Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An blood-curdling occult nightmare movie from writer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an long-buried malevolence when unknowns become pawns in a satanic ceremony. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing narrative of struggle and primeval wickedness that will redefine horror this October. Helmed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and cinematic story follows five strangers who suddenly rise ensnared in a isolated house under the aggressive will of Kyra, a young woman possessed by a millennia-old scriptural evil. Prepare to be hooked by a theatrical display that intertwines deep-seated panic with timeless legends, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a well-established theme in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is turned on its head when the forces no longer appear from beyond, but rather from within. This embodies the deepest facet of every character. The result is a riveting moral showdown where the events becomes a unyielding push-pull between moral forces.


In a remote terrain, five figures find themselves stuck under the fiendish presence and infestation of a uncanny woman. As the ensemble becomes incapacitated to escape her rule, marooned and followed by presences beyond comprehension, they are thrust to battle their raw vulnerabilities while the seconds brutally edges forward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension mounts and associations disintegrate, demanding each person to scrutinize their values and the philosophy of volition itself. The consequences accelerate with every heartbeat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that marries paranormal dread with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to explore primitive panic, an darkness rooted in antiquity, operating within soul-level flaws, and examining a presence that tests the soul when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra meant channeling something more primal than sorrow. She is blind until the haunting manifests, and that metamorphosis is harrowing because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure households internationally can face this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original promo, which has attracted over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, giving access to the movie to international horror buffs.


Tune in for this heart-stopping journey into fear. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to confront these nightmarish insights about the human condition.


For teasers, on-set glimpses, and promotions straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror watershed moment: 2025 across markets stateside slate weaves biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, alongside Franchise Rumbles

Spanning life-or-death fear steeped in old testament echoes and onward to brand-name continuations together with incisive indie visions, 2025 appears poised to be the richest along with blueprinted year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios set cornerstones with known properties, as streaming platforms front-load the fall with debut heat in concert with mythic dread. On the festival side, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are targeted, which means 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures fires the first shot with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, inside today’s landscape. Directed by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, along with eerie supernatural rules. Here the stakes rise, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The continuation widens the legend, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale with Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, 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. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No bloated mythology. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. 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. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

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, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Long Running Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

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

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

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and 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. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Trends to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror ascends again
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theaters are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The coming 2026 spook cycle: returning titles, original films, in tandem with A packed Calendar optimized for screams

Dek The fresh horror cycle crowds right away with a January cluster, subsequently carries through summer corridors, and continuing into the festive period, braiding series momentum, inventive spins, and tactical counterplay. Distributors with platforms are relying on mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that turn these films into culture-wide discussion.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the bankable lever in distribution calendars, a vertical that can spike when it resonates and still limit the risk when it doesn’t. After 2023 showed greenlighters that mid-range pictures can drive cultural conversation, the following year kept energy high with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The energy rolled into the 2025 frame, where revivals and critical darlings demonstrated there is a lane for different modes, from returning installments to director-led originals that translate worldwide. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a slate that seems notably aligned across the industry, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of recognizable IP and new packages, and a revived eye on theatrical windows that feed downstream value on premium home window and home platforms.

Marketers add the horror lane now serves as a utility player on the grid. Horror can debut on virtually any date, provide a sharp concept for creative and TikTok spots, and outstrip with fans that turn out on preview nights and keep coming through the next pass if the release lands. On the heels of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 plan shows comfort in that logic. The year kicks off with a loaded January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a autumn push that reaches into late October and into the next week. The map also spotlights the deeper integration of indie distributors and streamers that can platform and widen, stoke social talk, and scale up at the precise moment.

A companion trend is legacy care across unified worlds and storied titles. Big banners are not just releasing another installment. They are working to present continuity with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that indicates a new tone or a cast configuration that binds a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the same time, the visionaries behind the most anticipated originals are celebrating real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and location-forward worlds. That convergence hands 2026 a vital pairing of familiarity and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a legacy-leaning campaign without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push rooted in classic imagery, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also resurrects 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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will feature. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will pursue general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick adjustments to whatever defines trend lines that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tidy, soulful, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an AI companion that shifts into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a busy month, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror uncanny live moments and short reels that fuses longing and unease.

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

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele titles are marketed as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a gritty, hands-on effects execution can feel deluxe on a tight budget. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror rush that spotlights global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is calling a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both diehards and newcomers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build artifacts around canon, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by obsessive craft and period speech, this time circling werewolf lore. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. The studio’s horror films shift to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that enhances both week-one demand and trial spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video will mix acquired titles with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library engagement, using featured rows, Halloween hubs, and featured rows to extend momentum on lifetime take. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival grabs, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and positioning as event drops rollouts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of targeted cinema placements and quick platforming that translates talk to trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a selective basis. The platform has proven amenable to purchase select projects with recognized filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is engineering 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 appeal is tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern sound 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 suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-driven genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception warrants. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By weight, 2026 skews toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The workable fix is to position each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a Francophone tone from a new voice. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the configuration is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

The last three-year set help explain the template. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept streaming intact did not obstruct a same-day experiment from hitting when the brand was trusted. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they shift POV and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot consecutively, enables marketing to interlace chapters through character spine and themes and to leave creative active without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The production chatter behind 2026 horror hint at a continued preference for tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that leans on grain and menace rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a tone piece that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which match well with con floor moments and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid headline IP. 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 legit, but the range of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Post-January through spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited advance reveals that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s synthetic partner grows into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: atmospheric 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 difficult boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy turns and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to horror, built on Cronin’s in-camera craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting tale that threads the dread through a kid’s shifting point of view. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Young & Cursed Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A comic send-up that lampoons modern genre fads and true-crime buzz. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further reopens, with a different family caught in old terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBA. Production: continuing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces define this lineup. First, production that eased or re-slotted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects 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 beaten straight-to-streaming releases. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will coexist across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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 wide PLF deployment 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Anticipate a robust 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal 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 cold, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, soundscape, and framing 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.