Ancient Darkness awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding feature, rolling out October 2025 on major streaming services

A blood-curdling occult thriller from cinematographer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an forgotten dread when drifters become subjects in a malevolent trial. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking journey of living through and primeval wickedness that will revamp the fear genre this season. Brought to life by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and emotionally thick screenplay follows five teens who suddenly rise caught in a wilderness-bound dwelling under the dark control of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a timeless religious nightmare. Be warned to be gripped by a immersive event that combines instinctive fear with ancestral stories, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a long-standing fixture in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is twisted when the dark entities no longer arise from external sources, but rather through their own souls. This represents the most terrifying facet of the victims. The result is a gripping mind game where the intensity becomes a unyielding battle between divinity and wickedness.


In a desolate wild, five friends find themselves contained under the ominous force and domination of a unidentified female presence. As the group becomes incapacitated to break her dominion, cut off and attacked by presences inconceivable, they are made to reckon with their core terrors while the countdown mercilessly draws closer toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust mounts and ties erode, driving each protagonist to doubt their true nature and the idea of autonomy itself. The consequences magnify with every fleeting time, delivering a frightening tale that harmonizes otherworldly suspense with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to draw upon ancestral fear, an force rooted in antiquity, manipulating human fragility, and questioning a power that challenges autonomy when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra called for internalizing something beyond human emotion. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that conversion is haunting because it is so raw.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering streamers anywhere can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its initial teaser, which has gathered over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, presenting the nightmare to scare fans abroad.


Join this haunted path of possession. Explore *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these haunting secrets about the psyche.


For film updates, production insights, and alerts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit the official digital haunt.





U.S. horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season domestic schedule interlaces legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, and franchise surges

From pressure-cooker survival tales steeped in legendary theology and onward to series comebacks paired with surgical indie voices, 2025 is emerging as the most complex together with deliberate year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses bookend the months with established lines, even as streaming platforms flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus old-world menace. Across the art-house lane, the independent cohort is propelled by the uplift from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are disciplined, thus 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Elevated fear reclaims ground

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal banner begins the calendar with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, instead in a current-day frame. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving 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.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer winds down, the Warner lot bows the concluding entry within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson returns to the helm, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, with ghostly inner logic. The ante is higher this round, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, an intimate body horror unraveling led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical 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. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. 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 forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

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. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go 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 is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 terror slate: brand plays, new stories, together with A hectic Calendar Built For Scares

Dek The current scare cycle packs up front with a January wave, then runs through June and July, and well into the late-year period, braiding brand equity, creative pitches, and shrewd calendar placement. Studios with streamers are committing to responsible budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that elevate genre titles into national conversation.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has solidified as the steady move in studio slates, a corner that can surge when it lands and still limit the exposure when it does not. After 2023 demonstrated to studio brass that mid-range shockers can shape social chatter, 2024 held pace with visionary-driven titles and quiet over-performers. The carry moved into 2025, where revived properties and awards-minded projects highlighted there is space for multiple flavors, from series extensions to filmmaker-driven originals that scale internationally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a grid that seems notably aligned across studios, with strategic blocks, a pairing of marquee IP and new pitches, and a sharpened eye on big-screen windows that feed downstream value on premium on-demand and platforms.

Marketers add the space now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can bow on many corridors, provide a sharp concept for spots and platform-native cuts, and over-index with viewers that come out on Thursday previews and return through the next weekend if the release hits. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 cadence reflects certainty in that engine. The slate rolls out with a loaded January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while keeping space for a October build that runs into spooky season and past Halloween. The program also illustrates the deeper integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can launch in limited release, fuel WOM, and move wide at the timely point.

A companion trend is series management across shared IP webs and heritage properties. The studios are not just releasing another sequel. They are setting up continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a logo package that announces a recalibrated tone or a casting move that threads a new installment to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the marquee originals are prioritizing hands-on technique, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That mix produces 2026 a confident blend of recognition and unexpected turns, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount fires first with two front-of-slate titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the spine, positioning the film as both a handoff and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a legacy-leaning strategy without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected fueled by signature symbols, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence slated for 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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tight, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man activates an AI companion that grows into a deadly partner. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit odd public stunts and bite-size content that melds longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are positioned as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a tactile, hands-on effects method can feel premium on a middle budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror shot that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, check over here 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is presenting as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can fuel premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and period language, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a structure that enhances both initial urgency and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using editorial spots, genre hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival pickups, slotting horror entries near launch and framing as events drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a situational basis. The platform has signaled readiness to secure select projects with award winners or celebrity-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is putting together 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 proposition is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical rollout for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. 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 safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. 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 in parallel, using limited theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The question, as ever, is fatigue. The preferred tactic is to package each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and talent-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Three-year comps clarify the template. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a hybrid test from thriving when the brand was robust. In 2024, precision craft horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reorient and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft conversations behind this slate indicate a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that highlights atmosphere and fear rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a first look that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta inflection that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature and environment design, which fit with expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card use.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate unfolds into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the chain of command turns and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to fright, grounded in Cronin’s in-camera craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting chiller that plays with the chill of a child’s shaky point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house 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 comic send-up that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a another family tethered to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: pending. Production: continuing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 historical diction and primal menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming drops. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, creating valuable space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How Source the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, smart allocations, 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 detail, soundscape, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, craft precise trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.