Antediluvian Dread reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked shocker, launching October 2025 on top streamers

A haunting supernatural shockfest from screenwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an long-buried curse when unrelated individuals become tools in a supernatural contest. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish journey of living through and old world terror that will resculpt the fear genre this autumn. Directed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and emotionally thick feature follows five people who find themselves imprisoned in a remote wooden structure under the unfriendly manipulation of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Steel yourself to be immersed by a cinematic presentation that fuses bone-deep fear with timeless legends, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a legendary trope in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reimagined when the malevolences no longer originate from an outside force, but rather from their psyche. This marks the malevolent corner of each of them. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the events becomes a perpetual push-pull between virtue and vice.


In a barren no-man's-land, five youths find themselves trapped under the ghastly presence and grasp of a obscure female presence. As the group becomes unresisting to withstand her will, disconnected and attacked by evils unnamable, they are thrust to face their greatest panics while the doomsday meter unceasingly ticks onward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia mounts and connections splinter, coercing each person to evaluate their essence and the foundation of liberty itself. The pressure intensify with every heartbeat, delivering a paranormal ride that connects mystical fear with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dive into instinctual horror, an curse before modern man, emerging via mental cracks, and examining a presence that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra was centered on something darker than pain. She is unaware until the entity awakens, and that evolution is emotionally raw because it is so unshielded.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure streamers worldwide can watch this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has pulled in over 100K plays.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, taking the terror to a global viewership.


Tune in for this heart-stopping voyage through terror. Stream *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to explore these terrifying truths about our species.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and promotions from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror Turning Point: the year 2025 stateside slate blends myth-forward possession, signature indie scares, together with tentpole growls

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories suffused with primordial scripture all the way to installment follow-ups alongside focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into the richest plus blueprinted year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners bookend the months with established lines, while streamers load up the fall with discovery plays in concert with ancestral chills. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is propelled by the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Since Halloween is the prized date, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and now, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are surgical, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate kicks off the frame with a confident swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, inside today’s landscape. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. dated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner delivers the closing chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma as narrative engine, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, thickens the animatronic pantheon, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Economy, maximum dread

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

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable starring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Key Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror comes roaring back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The approaching scare season: continuations, original films, plus A loaded Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek The current terror year loads at the outset with a January wave, then carries through summer corridors, and carrying into the holiday frame, marrying IP strength, inventive spins, and well-timed counterweight. Distributors with platforms are focusing on cost discipline, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that convert these films into four-quadrant talking points.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The horror sector has grown into the steady counterweight in studio calendars, a lane that can grow when it catches and still protect the floor when it does not. After 2023 reconfirmed for studio brass that lean-budget horror vehicles can steer the discourse, 2024 extended the rally with high-profile filmmaker pieces and unexpected risers. The run rolled into 2025, where returns and premium-leaning entries proved there is space for different modes, from continued chapters to fresh IP that scale internationally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a grid that is strikingly coherent across the major shops, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of household franchises and untested plays, and a reinvigorated emphasis on exclusive windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and digital services.

Schedulers say the space now works like a flex slot on the calendar. Horror can roll out on a wide range of weekends, provide a easy sell for spots and vertical videos, and overperform with fans that show up on preview nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the film fires. Exiting a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm signals comfort in that playbook. The calendar begins with a crowded January lineup, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that pushes into All Hallows period and past Halloween. The layout also reflects the greater integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can platform and widen, build word of mouth, and grow at the inflection point.

A companion trend is franchise tending across unified worlds and long-running brands. The studios are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are shaping as story carry-over with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that conveys a reframed mood or a casting choice that threads a new entry to a first wave. At the concurrently, the creative leads behind the most watched originals are returning to material texture, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That combination affords 2026 a smart balance of known notes and freshness, which is the formula for international play.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount marks the early tempo with two headline moves that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the front, presenting it as both a succession moment and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach suggests a memory-charged strategy without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign centered on legacy iconography, intro reveals, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever rules the conversation that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that grows into a killer companion. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to mirror off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that melds companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a branding reveal to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are framed as signature events, with a minimalist tease and a later creative that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway opens a lane to fill 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has established that a gnarly, in-camera leaning strategy can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a red-band summer horror shock that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is marketing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both diehards and fresh viewers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around world-building, and creature builds, elements that can stoke format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ladder that amplifies both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video will mix library titles with cross-border buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, fright rows, and curated strips to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival additions, slotting horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a staged of precision releases and prompt platform moves that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a situational basis. The platform has proven amenable to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clear: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has proved effective for arthouse horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP 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 overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a new angle. Paramount is spotlighting character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the package is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps illuminate the approach. In 2023, Check This Out a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not preclude a hybrid test from working when the brand was big. In 2024, director-craft horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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 lensed sequentially, allows marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

Behind-the-camera trends

The shop talk behind the 2026 entries foreshadow a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that foregrounds mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta pivot that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature craft and set design, which match well with convention floor stunts and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is crowded. 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 somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. The month buttons 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 credible, but the tonal variety affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Early-year through spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s AI companion evolves into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a altering 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 work to survive on a remote island as the hierarchy turns and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fright, rooted in Cronin’s practical effects and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that frames the panic through a youngster’s uneven POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: locked. 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 back in creative roles. Logline: {A satirical comeback that needles modern genre fads and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family snared by returning horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: undetermined. Production: ongoing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 language and elemental dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces structure this lineup. First, production that paused or shuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more measured 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 landings. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, metered scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will coexist across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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

The surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, tight deployments, 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 visual texture, acoustics, 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 Is Well Positioned

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, creative ambition where it counts, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.