Age-old Evil Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

This eerie ghostly scare-fest from author / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an mythic evil when outsiders become subjects in a hellish struggle. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing tale of perseverance and mythic evil that will transform genre cinema this harvest season. Crafted by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and shadowy feature follows five unknowns who arise stranded in a wooded shelter under the aggressive influence of Kyra, a haunted figure consumed by a timeless ancient fiend. Arm yourself to be hooked by a immersive presentation that combines intense horror with ancient myths, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a iconic foundation in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is twisted when the spirits no longer emerge from external sources, but rather inside their minds. This marks the grimmest part of all involved. The result is a riveting spiritual tug-of-war where the emotions becomes a merciless conflict between purity and corruption.


In a wilderness-stricken terrain, five young people find themselves caught under the evil effect and domination of a uncanny spirit. As the companions becomes powerless to reject her control, exiled and followed by spirits mind-shattering, they are forced to encounter their darkest emotions while the moments unforgivingly draws closer toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion mounts and alliances erode, requiring each individual to reflect on their true nature and the nature of autonomy itself. The danger grow with every tick, delivering a chilling narrative that merges demonic fright with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to awaken raw dread, an force before modern man, channeling itself through inner turmoil, and exposing a will that challenges autonomy when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra involved tapping into something darker than pain. She is in denial until the demon emerges, and that metamorphosis is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering fans from coast to coast can watch this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original clip, which has been viewed over massive response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, delivering the story to horror fans worldwide.


Don’t miss this haunted trip into the unknown. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to uncover these ghostly lessons about existence.


For film updates, on-set glimpses, and social posts directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the movie’s homepage.





Horror’s sea change: 2025 U.S. rollouts Mixes Mythic Possession, signature indie scares, alongside tentpole growls

Spanning pressure-cooker survival tales infused with legendary theology to brand-name continuations in concert with focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex in tandem with strategic year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios lay down anchors with established lines, in parallel SVOD players crowd the fall with fresh voices paired with primordial unease. At the same time, independent banners is propelled by the uplift of a banner 2024 fest year. Since Halloween is the prized date, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Elevated fear reclaims ground

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp kicks off the frame with a statement play: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. set for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, the WB camp launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. 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. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, along with eerie supernatural rules. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The return delves further into myth, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches 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 smart play. No heavy handed lore. No sequel clutter. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

Signals and Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The approaching fright lineup: continuations, fresh concepts, in tandem with A brimming Calendar designed for goosebumps

Dek: The new genre calendar stacks from the jump with a January wave, thereafter extends through summer corridors, and well into the late-year period, fusing marquee clout, new voices, and calculated counterplay. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on tight budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that transform these pictures into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

The genre has shown itself to be the dependable tool in release plans, a genre that can surge when it catches and still hedge the risk when it stumbles. After 2023 reminded top brass that cost-conscious genre plays can steer pop culture, the following year kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and under-the-radar smashes. The carry fed into 2025, where reboots and prestige plays demonstrated there is a lane for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to non-IP projects that translate worldwide. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the market, with clear date clusters, a mix of known properties and novel angles, and a renewed focus on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and SVOD.

Insiders argue the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the programming map. Horror can launch on open real estate, create a tight logline for trailers and vertical videos, and punch above weight with moviegoers that lean in on advance nights and maintain momentum through the second weekend if the title delivers. Exiting a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm signals faith in that setup. The year kicks off with a busy January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a October build that reaches into Halloween and into early November. The map also highlights the expanded integration of specialized imprints and subscription services that can develop over weeks, ignite recommendations, and roll out at the proper time.

An added macro current is series management across interlocking continuities and established properties. Major shops are not just turning out another continuation. They are aiming to frame continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a re-angled tone or a lead change that links a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into real-world builds, physical gags and distinct locales. That alloy hands the 2026 slate a strong blend of recognition and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the center, presenting it as both a succession moment and a return-to-roots character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative posture signals a throwback-friendly approach without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected centered on classic imagery, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will stress. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick reframes to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three distinct entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that evolves into a deadly partner. The date locates it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to reprise viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that interweaves attachment and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a public title to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are sold as marquee events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, practical-effects forward strategy can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 franchise faithful and fresh viewers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around environmental design, and creature design, elements that can fuel IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

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 maintains Eggers’ run of period horror centered on historical precision and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. The specialty arm has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Windowing plans in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run move to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that boosts both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the back half. Prime Video interleaves library titles with global pickups and small theatrical windows when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog engagement, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and curated rows to increase tail value on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about own-slate titles and festival deals, finalizing horror entries toward the drop and making event-like go-lives with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a have a peek at these guys paired of targeted theatrical exposure and fast windowing that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to secure select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clear: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, recalibrated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical-first plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday slot to go wider. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-first horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using mini theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By number, 2026 skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The caveat, as ever, is brand erosion. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is spotlighting core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold 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 signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the deal build is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns make sense of the logic. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not preclude a parallel release from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they alter lens and elevate scope. 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 double feature plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character and theme and to hold creative in the market without long breaks.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror hint at a continued emphasis on physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that spotlights unease and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and guild coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gross-out texture, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and gathers shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta inflection that centers an original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature execution and sets, which play well in expo activations my company and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. 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 larger brand plays. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tone spread creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May prime the summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s 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 check over here tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s virtual companion mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: tone-first 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 severe boss battle to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that twists the horror of a child’s mercurial impressions. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. 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 returning creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime manias. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family bound to long-buried horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: to be announced. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBD. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or migrated in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming launches. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where lean-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, lean footprints, 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 materiality, 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 Looks Exciting

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.