Ancient Evil Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling feature, premiering Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An eerie spectral fright fest from narrative craftsman / director Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an archaic dread when guests become subjects in a demonic contest. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful story of survival and mythic evil that will redefine horror this ghoul season. Guided by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and gothic tale follows five unknowns who find themselves stranded in a hidden shelter under the unfriendly sway of Kyra, a troubled woman controlled by a millennia-old biblical demon. Prepare to be shaken by a visual experience that fuses bodily fright with mystical narratives, debuting 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 concept in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is radically shifted when the presences no longer develop from an outside force, but rather within themselves. This embodies the malevolent shade of each of them. The result is a psychologically brutal moral showdown where the story becomes a soul-crushing clash between good and evil.


In a haunting terrain, five teens find themselves contained under the ghastly influence and control of a mysterious apparition. As the team becomes incapacitated to deny her rule, isolated and targeted by unknowns unnamable, they are driven to reckon with their core terrors while the deathwatch harrowingly ticks onward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust intensifies and bonds disintegrate, pressuring each character to doubt their identity and the structure of liberty itself. The threat surge with every short lapse, delivering a terror ride that integrates otherworldly panic with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dive into pure dread, an malevolence beyond recorded history, manifesting in soul-level flaws, and exposing a power that forces self-examination when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was about accessing something outside normal anguish. She is innocent until the spirit seizes her, and that flip is shocking because it is so internal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for streaming beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing streamers across the world can engage with this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its intro video, which has gathered over notable views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, offering the tale to fans of fear everywhere.


Join this life-altering descent into darkness. Stream *Young & Cursed* this launch day to explore these terrifying truths about free will.


For previews, set experiences, and press updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursed across social media and visit youngandcursed.com.





U.S. horror’s sea change: 2025 U.S. calendar Mixes legend-infused possession, underground frights, and brand-name tremors

Ranging from last-stand terror inspired by biblical myth through to brand-name continuations plus pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as horror’s most layered and deliberate year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses bookend the months with franchise anchors, as digital services saturate the fall with new voices as well as legend-coded dread. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is buoyed by the echoes of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, however this time, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are surgical, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium dread reemerges

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s slate leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by 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.

By late summer, the WB camp launches the swan song of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: nostalgic menace, trauma explicitly handled, along with eerie supernatural rules. Here the stakes rise, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The follow up digs further into canon, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

SVOD Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is destined for a fall landing.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

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 clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No canon weight. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror swings back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Watch for one or more of these 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. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming fear release year: continuations, new stories, And A hectic Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The fresh genre calendar loads in short order with a January crush, then flows through midyear, and carrying into the festive period, blending marquee clout, fresh ideas, and strategic release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing cost discipline, theatrical leads, and platform-native promos that shape these offerings into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has emerged as the bankable play in annual schedules, a lane that can break out when it hits and still mitigate the liability when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year re-taught greenlighters that responsibly budgeted scare machines can galvanize social chatter, 2024 sustained momentum with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The carry extended into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is a lane for a spectrum, from returning installments to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a calendar that looks unusually coordinated across players, with planned clusters, a combination of familiar brands and first-time concepts, and a refocused commitment on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital and platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now works like a fill-in ace on the rollout map. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, offer a clean hook for trailers and short-form placements, and over-index with ticket buyers that line up on Thursday previews and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the movie satisfies. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan signals belief in that equation. The year kicks off with a busy January window, then taps spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a September to October window that flows toward Halloween and into early November. The map also underscores the ongoing integration of arthouse labels and streamers that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and scale up at the optimal moment.

An added macro current is IP stewardship across linked properties and established properties. Major shops are not just rolling another chapter. They are working to present continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a logo package that flags a re-angled tone or a star attachment that bridges a next film to a foundational era. At the same time, the helmers behind the most anticipated originals are championing real-world builds, on-set effects and place-driven backdrops. That alloy gives 2026 a healthy mix of assurance and newness, which is the formula for international play.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, framing it as both a handoff and a return-to-roots relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a legacy-leaning treatment without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with iconic art, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format supporting quick reframes to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, melancholic, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that becomes a dangerous lover. The date sets it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and short-cut promos that threads romance and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s work are marketed as event films, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend lets the studio to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, on-set effects led method can feel cinematic on a tight budget. Look for a grime-caked summer horror shock that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand active while movies the spin-off branch advances. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is positioning as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 focus to serve both players and curious audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build artifacts around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror centered on rigorous craft and period language, this time set against lycan legends. The company has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Where the platforms fit in

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate shift to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that maximizes both launch urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with global pickups and select theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using in-app campaigns, Halloween hubs, and staff picks to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps optionality about first-party entries and festival additions, slotting horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a two-step of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 corridor with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a standard theatrical run for the title, an good sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the back half.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to open out. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-driven genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception warrants. Keep an eye on 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 hand in hand, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By share, 2026 tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a fresh helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the team and cast is steady enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps outline the approach. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date try from performing when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror popped in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they change perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, lets marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The production chatter behind this year’s genre signal a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that emphasizes creep and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta recalibration that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in fan-con activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that work in PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast 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 stiff, but the spread of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth spreads.

February through May stage summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half 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 rolls in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited teasers that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Project briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate mutates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 unyielding boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the hierarchy tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting chiller that threads the dread through a child’s uneven point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-built and A-list fronted supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satirical comeback that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a another family anchored to long-buried horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on classic survival-horror tone over action fireworks. Rating: TBD. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBD. Production: underway. 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 period-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on shareable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will compete across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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. 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 shadowed, 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 stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sonics, and visuals 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

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.