Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a bone chilling shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

One haunting mystic suspense story from dramatist / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an primeval terror when unknowns become subjects in a hellish ordeal. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish depiction of staying alive and timeless dread that will redefine the horror genre this October. Realized by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and claustrophobic cinema piece follows five unknowns who awaken sealed in a wooded lodge under the malignant power of Kyra, a tormented girl claimed by a legendary biblical demon. Arm yourself to be gripped by a narrative ride that intertwines intense horror with spiritual backstory, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a time-honored tradition in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is subverted when the entities no longer descend outside the characters, but rather within themselves. This echoes the grimmest layer of these individuals. The result is a harrowing emotional conflict where the tension becomes a brutal battle between innocence and sin.


In a bleak wild, five adults find themselves caught under the malevolent control and overtake of a uncanny person. As the ensemble becomes paralyzed to combat her influence, left alone and preyed upon by forces indescribable, they are obligated to acknowledge their worst nightmares while the countdown unforgivingly ticks toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension surges and ties crack, pressuring each member to scrutinize their existence and the notion of freedom of choice itself. The consequences intensify with every passing moment, delivering a terror ride that blends demonic fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dive into primal fear, an power beyond time, filtering through our fears, and navigating a evil that tests the soul when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was centered on something far beyond human desperation. She is ignorant until the entity awakens, and that evolution is haunting because it is so internal.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing fans worldwide can enjoy this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has earned over 100,000 views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, making the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Make sure to see this bone-rattling fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to survive these fearful discoveries about mankind.


For exclusive trailers, set experiences, and news from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit the film’s website.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts Mixes archetypal-possession themes, art-house nightmares, in parallel with series shake-ups

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories grounded in near-Eastern lore and extending to IP renewals and cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 stands to become horror’s most layered plus carefully orchestrated year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios bookend the months through proven series, as streaming platforms prime the fall with discovery plays as well as ancestral chills. In the indie lane, the art-house flank is riding the carry of a peak 2024 circuit. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the other windows are mapped with care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, hence 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium genre swings back

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline leads off the quarter with a big gambit: a reconceived Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Led by 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. timed for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer winds down, Warner’s pipeline delivers the closing chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

After that, The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retrograde shiver, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. The bar is raised this go, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, courting teens and the thirty something base. It opens in December, holding the cold season’s end.

SVOD Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable led by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No bloated canon. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Signals and Trends

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

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.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

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 like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 fear lineup: next chapters, non-franchise titles, in tandem with A brimming Calendar Built For jolts

Dek The arriving horror calendar packs up front with a January pile-up, following that rolls through the summer months, and carrying into the December corridor, mixing brand heft, original angles, and data-minded release strategy. The major players are leaning into tight budgets, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that frame horror entries into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has emerged as the consistent play in studio calendars, a lane that can break out when it breaks through and still hedge the risk when it doesn’t. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that disciplined-budget pictures can shape the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and surprise hits. The trend moved into the 2025 frame, where returns and festival-grade titles underscored there is a market for different modes, from sequel tracks to original one-offs that perform internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a grid that reads highly synchronized across distributors, with clear date clusters, a combination of known properties and new pitches, and a re-energized emphasis on release windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium video on demand and OTT platforms.

Insiders argue the horror lane now slots in as a swing piece on the rollout map. The genre can launch on a wide range of weekends, generate a simple premise for creative and short-form placements, and exceed norms with ticket buyers that show up on opening previews and continue through the subsequent weekend if the feature delivers. Emerging from a work stoppage lag, the 2026 configuration indicates faith in that engine. The year begins with a thick January run, then plants flags in spring and early summer for balance, while making space for a September to October window that runs into Halloween and into November. The gridline also includes the continuing integration of indie distributors and OTT outlets that can launch in limited release, ignite recommendations, and scale up at the right moment.

A reinforcing pattern is IP stewardship across shared IP webs and long-running brands. Big banners are not just making another chapter. They are shaping as lineage with a marquee sheen, whether that is a brandmark that telegraphs a fresh attitude or a talent selection that reconnects a new entry to a original cycle. At the in tandem, the helmers behind the marquee originals are celebrating tactile craft, in-camera effects and location-forward worlds. That blend gives the 2026 slate a vital pairing of home base and freshness, which is what works overseas.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two spotlight bets that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, setting it up as both a lineage transfer and a origin-leaning character piece. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the tonal posture points to a legacy-leaning treatment without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Watch for a push fueled by classic imagery, character spotlights, and a tiered teaser plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will play up. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will build wide buzz through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format inviting quick pivots to whatever shapes pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three specific projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, grief-rooted, and high-concept: a grieving man implements an digital partner that mutates into a fatal companion. The date places it at the front of a packed window, with the studio’s marketing likely to bring back uncanny live moments and short-cut promos that melds intimacy and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a public title to become an marketing beat closer to the initial promo. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as event films, with a teaser that reveals little and a second wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date creates space for Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has long shown that a gnarly, makeup-driven aesthetic can feel high-value on a controlled budget. Frame it as a viscera-heavy summer horror jolt that pushes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio places two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, holding a reliable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is billing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both longtime followers and casuals. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign creative around mythos, and monster design, elements that can accelerate deluxe auditorium demand and convention buzz.

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 extends Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and linguistic texture, this time set against lycan legends. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

Streaming windows and tactics

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases feed copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that amplifies both initial urgency and sub growth in the late-window. Prime Video will mix third-party pickups with global pickups and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, Halloween hubs, and collection rows to extend momentum on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about original films and festival additions, timing horror entries near their drops and positioning as event drops rollouts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a staged of selective theatrical runs and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with prestige directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 track with two IP plays. 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 atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, updated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception warrants. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their user base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, 2026 leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness fan equity. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The near-term solution is to present each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is foregrounding character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set outline the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not preclude a day-date try from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, art-forward horror over-performed in premium screens. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they angle differently and stretch the story. 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 two-step approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to interlace chapters through character spine and themes and to hold creative in the market without lulls.

How the films are being made

The filmmaking conversations behind these films indicate a continued bias toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that foregrounds unease and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and produces shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-aware reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster work and world-building, which play well in booth activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that elevate hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid larger brand plays. The month buttons 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 thick, but the spread of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reawakens 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 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

End of summer through fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to this contact form Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 unyielding boss try to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fright, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting setup that manipulates the unease of a child’s uncertain point of view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-grade and name-above-title supernatural 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 send-up revival that skewers today’s horror trends and true crime fixations. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a another family anchored to ancient dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: pending. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in progress. 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 elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and compressed 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, metered scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle 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 take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and this page 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, 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 pace and range. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, acoustics, 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is IP strength where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.