Primordial Terror reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked chiller, rolling out October 2025 on leading streamers

One bone-chilling unearthly nightmare movie from cinematographer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primordial entity when unrelated individuals become instruments in a supernatural struggle. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing story of resilience and old world terror that will revamp the fear genre this harvest season. Brought to life by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and shadowy motion picture follows five young adults who awaken confined in a remote shelter under the oppressive command of Kyra, a female presence claimed by a timeless sacrosanct terror. Prepare to be seized by a visual ride that fuses instinctive fear with ancestral stories, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a time-honored foundation in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is subverted when the entities no longer emerge from a different plane, but rather inside their minds. This portrays the malevolent side of each of them. The result is a emotionally raw internal warfare where the events becomes a intense fight between righteousness and malevolence.


In a haunting no-man's-land, five youths find themselves contained under the malicious dominion and curse of a unidentified female figure. As the survivors becomes incapable to evade her dominion, disconnected and followed by entities impossible to understand, they are made to encounter their inner demons while the clock harrowingly counts down toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust surges and links fracture, demanding each soul to contemplate their being and the principle of decision-making itself. The pressure mount with every breath, delivering a chilling narrative that fuses paranormal dread with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to evoke core terror, an power older than civilization itself, influencing emotional fractures, and dealing with a force that erodes the self when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra involved tapping into something darker than pain. She is uninformed until the takeover begins, and that transition is eerie because it is so deep.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be available for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing subscribers everywhere can watch this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first trailer, which has gathered over strong viewer count.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, making the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Witness this visceral path of possession. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to see these terrifying truths about existence.


For cast commentary, set experiences, and reveals via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the film’s website.





Modern horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. release slate integrates primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, paired with IP aftershocks

Kicking off with last-stand terror drawn from mythic scripture through to canon extensions paired with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is coalescing into the most stratified along with tactically planned year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Major studios lay down anchors with familiar IP, simultaneously premium streamers flood the fall with new voices and ancient terrors. Meanwhile, the artisan tier is fueled by the carry of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are disciplined, so 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the base, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline sets loose the finale from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re teams, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma in the foreground, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, bridging teens and legacy players. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. 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.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No bloated canon. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror resurges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The next fear release year: continuations, fresh concepts, plus A brimming Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek The arriving horror calendar packs early with a January wave, thereafter extends through summer, and running into the festive period, fusing legacy muscle, new concepts, and calculated counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are betting on efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that elevate these offerings into broad-appeal conversations.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has turned into the dependable play in annual schedules, a corner that can lift when it clicks and still safeguard the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 demonstrated to greenlighters that mid-range genre plays can own the zeitgeist, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The head of steam carried into the 2025 frame, where returns and prestige plays signaled there is capacity for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to original one-offs that travel well. The sum for the 2026 slate is a lineup that shows rare alignment across players, with planned clusters, a blend of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a reinvigorated strategy on exclusive windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and SVOD.

Marketers add the category now behaves like a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can premiere on almost any weekend, provide a clean hook for trailers and short-form placements, and outperform with audiences that show up on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the sophomore frame if the release pays off. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs certainty in that approach. The calendar opens with a weighty January lineup, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a fall run that carries into All Hallows period and beyond. The grid also highlights the stronger partnership of specialty arms and subscription services that can launch in limited release, fuel WOM, and widen at the sweet spot.

A companion trend is franchise tending across connected story worlds and classic IP. The companies are not just turning out another chapter. They are seeking to position ongoing narrative with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that broadcasts a re-angled tone or a talent selection that bridges a new entry to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the most watched originals are prioritizing practical craft, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That mix hands the 2026 slate a vital pairing of recognition and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket projects that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, setting it up as both a lineage transfer and a origin-leaning relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture announces a fan-service aware angle without replaying the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Look for a marketing run anchored in franchise iconography, intro reveals, and a promo sequence timed to late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will lean on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will pursue large awareness through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever tops the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is crisp, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that evolves into a lethal partner. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo odd public stunts and micro spots that mixes companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are branded as signature events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date allows Universal to lead 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a raw, makeup-driven method can feel prestige on a disciplined budget. Expect a red-band summer horror jolt that spotlights global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio lines up two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a steady supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is marketing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both diehards and general audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign creative around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can lift premium screens and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in obsessive craft and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The company has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is warm.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform tactics for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s horror titles flow to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a stair-step that optimizes both FOMO and subscription bumps in the after-window. Prime Video balances licensed titles with worldwide entries and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in archive usage, using seasonal hubs, spooky hubs, and curated rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix retains agility about in-house releases and festival deals, slotting horror entries closer to drop and staging as events debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of selective theatrical runs and prompt platform moves that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has indicated interest to invest in select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 slate 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 straightforward: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, recalibrated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through select festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using select theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate skews toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to present each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps announce the playbook. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that observed windows did not block a same-day experiment from paying off when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror popped in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reframe POV and widen scale. 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 two-step approach, with chapters shot consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to cross-link entries through character web and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the upcoming entries forecast a continued shift toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that leans on aura and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in feature stories and craft features before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta inflection that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which match well with booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month wraps 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 range of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

February through May seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s synthetic partner shifts movies into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a warped 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 demanding boss fight to survive on a far-flung island as the chain of command swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fear, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting chiller that refracts terror through a child’s flickering perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-built and marquee-led eerie 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 spoof revival that pokes at in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime crazes. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 detonates, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a fresh family tethered to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: not yet rated. 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 period-specific language and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 and why now

Three practical forces organize this lineup. First, production that downshifted or rearranged in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and tighter 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming landings. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

The slot calculus is real. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 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 genre tones will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then Young & Cursed the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 click to read more tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, aural design, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.