Antediluvian Evil Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror feature, launching Oct 2025 across global platforms

This unnerving spiritual fright fest from narrative craftsman / director Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an age-old fear when guests become tokens in a fiendish struggle. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful portrayal of living through and archaic horror that will transform fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Helmed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and eerie tale follows five lost souls who emerge caught in a far-off house under the menacing rule of Kyra, a possessed female overtaken by a prehistoric religious nightmare. Get ready to be captivated by a theatrical spectacle that blends soul-chilling terror with timeless legends, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a classic fixture in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is subverted when the presences no longer develop outside the characters, but rather from their core. This mirrors the most hidden dimension of the protagonists. The result is a intense spiritual tug-of-war where the intensity becomes a ongoing face-off between virtue and vice.


In a isolated forest, five figures find themselves caught under the sinister rule and domination of a enigmatic female presence. As the team becomes defenseless to oppose her control, abandoned and hunted by presences beyond reason, they are cornered to deal with their deepest fears while the doomsday meter ruthlessly draws closer toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear mounts and partnerships dissolve, prompting each cast member to doubt their character and the idea of liberty itself. The hazard magnify with every tick, delivering a fear-soaked story that connects otherworldly suspense with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dive into pure dread, an force rooted in antiquity, channeling itself through emotional vulnerability, and highlighting a entity that questions who we are when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra was about accessing something outside normal anguish. She is unseeing until the demon emerges, and that transformation is deeply unsettling because it is so private.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing streamers everywhere can engage with this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its initial teaser, which has received over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, making the film to global fright lovers.


Witness this mind-warping fall into madness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this launch day to confront these haunting secrets about mankind.


For cast commentary, production insights, and alerts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. Slate Mixes archetypal-possession themes, indie terrors, together with returning-series thunder

Spanning last-stand terror inspired by scriptural legend all the way to installment follow-ups together with keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified as well as blueprinted year since the mid-2010s.

Call it full, but it is also focused. the big studios lock in tentpoles through proven series, simultaneously digital services pack the fall with unboxed visions in concert with archetypal fear. On another front, festival-forward creators is drafting behind the uplift from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are exacting, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium dread reemerges

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a confident swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early reactions hint at fangs.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule launches the swan song within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma as theme, and eerie supernatural logic. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The continuation widens the legend, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters lean on names and sequels, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is canny scheduling. No overweight mythology. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered 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 packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror retakes ground
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

What’s Next: Fall saturation and a winter joker

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

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.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next fright lineup: entries, fresh concepts, paired with A jammed Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek The emerging horror cycle builds right away with a January wave, before it runs through the summer months, and continuing into the late-year period, marrying name recognition, untold stories, and smart counter-scheduling. Studios with streamers are leaning into lean spends, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that position genre releases into broad-appeal conversations.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror has turned into the consistent lever in release plans, a space that can lift when it resonates and still limit the liability when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for decision-makers that disciplined-budget shockers can dominate the national conversation, the following year held pace with high-profile filmmaker pieces and sleeper breakouts. The carry fed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and critical darlings signaled there is capacity for several lanes, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that scale internationally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a run that shows rare alignment across the field, with planned clusters, a equilibrium of household franchises and new packages, and a re-energized priority on exclusive windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and home streaming.

Marketers add the genre now performs as a flex slot on the distribution slate. The genre can bow on almost any weekend, furnish a clean hook for creative and short-form placements, and outpace with audiences that turn out on advance nights and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the offering works. Exiting a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence exhibits certainty in that dynamic. The slate opens with a thick January block, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while saving space for a September to October window that pushes into spooky season and into the next week. The gridline also highlights the greater integration of boutique distributors and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, spark evangelism, and widen at the proper time.

A reinforcing pattern is brand curation across connected story worlds and established properties. Distribution groups are not just producing another sequel. They are moving to present connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a title design that conveys a new tone or a star attachment that ties a new installment to a early run. At the meanwhile, the directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing hands-on technique, on-set effects and concrete locations. That combination hands the 2026 slate a strong blend of comfort and novelty, which is the formula for international play.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount establishes early momentum with two big-ticket bets that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the heart, framing it as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a roots-evoking angle without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push centered on franchise iconography, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever defines trend lines that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is crisp, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an AI companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date slots it at the front of a busy month, with marketing at Universal likely to recreate strange in-person beats and quick hits that mixes intimacy and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a final title to become an attention spike closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are treated as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later trailer push that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, physical-effects centered approach can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both diehards and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around setting detail, and creature effects, elements that can lift format premiums and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by careful craft and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that enhances both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using featured rows, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on overall cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries near launch and eventizing go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to secure select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two name-brand moves. 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 atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, retooled for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a cinema-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has worked well for prestige horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception drives. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited runs to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Series vs standalone

By weight, 2026 tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to market each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is assuring enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set help explain the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not foreclose a hybrid test from working when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot consecutively, creates space for marketing to connect the chapters through relationships and themes and to keep assets in-market without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The shop talk behind these films foreshadow a continued shift toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes aura and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead press and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and produces shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster realization and design, which work nicely for expo activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that benefit on big speakers.

From winter to 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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid larger brand plays. The month buttons 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 lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

February through May tee up summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited information drops that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card spend.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s synthetic partner shifts into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss battle to survive on a lonely island as the power dynamic inverts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to menace, founded on Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 domestic haunting premise that leverages the horror of a child’s wobbly point of view. Rating: TBD. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody reboot that skewers present-day genre chatter and true crime fixations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. 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 erupts, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, see here August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new household snared by returning horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A restart designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 antique diction and primordial menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the moment is 2026

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 launches. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 underdog 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and imagery 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, Ready To Roar

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, edit tight trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shocks sell the seats.