Primeval Terror rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on major streaming services

A unnerving supernatural scare-fest from writer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an forgotten horror when newcomers become tokens in a dark conflict. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching chronicle of struggle and prehistoric entity that will redefine horror this October. Realized by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and atmospheric film follows five individuals who come to confined in a unreachable cottage under the oppressive control of Kyra, a tormented girl inhabited by a prehistoric ancient fiend. Brace yourself to be gripped by a immersive event that integrates soul-chilling terror with folklore, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a long-standing foundation in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is inverted when the forces no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather internally. This symbolizes the shadowy shade of these individuals. The result is a emotionally raw emotional conflict where the narrative becomes a relentless clash between moral forces.


In a forsaken natural abyss, five adults find themselves imprisoned under the ghastly force and control of a haunted entity. As the cast becomes helpless to escape her will, cut off and preyed upon by beings ungraspable, they are required to encounter their greatest panics while the deathwatch without pause ticks onward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety amplifies and friendships break, forcing each participant to contemplate their identity and the principle of freedom of choice itself. The pressure surge with every heartbeat, delivering a frightening tale that integrates occult fear with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to channel raw dread, an malevolence beyond time, influencing psychological breaks, and highlighting a entity that challenges autonomy when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra involved tapping into something deeper than fear. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that change is haunting because it is so raw.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing users across the world can be part of this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, spreading the horror to scare fans abroad.


Tune in for this haunted ride through nightmares. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to explore these ghostly lessons about our species.


For previews, behind-the-scenes content, and announcements from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit our spooky domain.





Horror’s tipping point: 2025 in focus U.S. release slate blends old-world possession, Indie Shockers, together with returning-series thunder

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales saturated with near-Eastern lore and onward to series comebacks as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most variegated paired with tactically planned year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios bookend the months with established lines, as platform operators saturate the fall with emerging auteurs and legend-coded dread. On the festival side, horror’s indie wing is carried on the carry from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, accordingly 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige terror resurfaces

The top end is active. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a statement play: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Directed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This pass pushes higher, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The continuation widens the legend, thickens the animatronic pantheon, speaking to teens and older millennials. It lands in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Plays: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable led by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. 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 explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No franchise baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy IP: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

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

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

What’s Next: Autumn density and winter pivot

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. 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 play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next fright season: Sequels, non-franchise titles, paired with A brimming Calendar optimized for nightmares

Dek The current scare cycle stacks in short order with a January wave, from there rolls through the summer months, and running into the winter holidays, blending legacy muscle, creative pitches, and smart counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that elevate these pictures into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has grown into the consistent lever in studio lineups, a vertical that can spike when it lands and still protect the drag when it underperforms. After 2023 reconfirmed for greenlighters that modestly budgeted chillers can own mainstream conversation, 2024 kept energy high with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The energy fed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is demand for several lanes, from returning installments to director-led originals that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a schedule that is strikingly coherent across the market, with planned clusters, a spread of brand names and new pitches, and a revived attention on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and digital services.

Executives say the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the grid. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, create a quick sell for marketing and shorts, and overperform with demo groups that come out on early shows and hold through the week two if the movie satisfies. Following a production delay era, the 2026 setup telegraphs comfort in that dynamic. The calendar opens with a front-loaded January lineup, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a September to October window that flows toward spooky season and into November. The layout also features the continuing integration of indie arms and home platforms that can platform and widen, create conversation, and widen at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just pushing another follow-up. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that conveys a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that bridges a latest entry to a first wave. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to hands-on technique, real effects and location-forward worlds. That convergence gives 2026 a confident blend of comfort and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount leads early with two spotlight moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, angling it as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a memory-charged approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push rooted in classic imagery, intro reveals, and a tease cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also dusts off 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 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 remixable clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick shifts to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three differentiated entries. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, tragic, and commercial: a grieving man onboards an synthetic partner that turns into a lethal partner. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise uncanny live moments and micro spots that interlaces longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules 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 calendar 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.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as director events, with a opaque teaser and a subsequent trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, hands-on effects mix can feel prestige on a tight budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror jolt that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, carrying a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is positioning as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and monster craft, elements that can lift large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by obsessive craft and archaic language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform windowing in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that elevates both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video stitches together library titles with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data points to it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog discovery, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix films and festival grabs, slotting horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday frame to broaden. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their membership.

Series vs standalone

By skew, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate household recognition. The caveat, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-accented approach from a buzzed-about director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries bring the 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, places Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is anchored enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Comparable trends from recent years frame the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not preclude a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, precision craft horror punched above its weight in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reorient and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, lets marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind this slate point to a continued bias toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that elevates tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for red-band excess, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature design and production design, which favor convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the spread of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited previews that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss struggle to survive on a isolated island as the power balance upends and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, shaped by Cronin’s physical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. 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 story that twists the fright of a child’s shaky perspective. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned for 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 breaks out, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a another family caught in residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. 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: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing. 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 era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming launches. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 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 disciplined-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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a navigate to this website tasting table, 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 leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, acoustics, and visual design 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, guard the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.