Antediluvian Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

A bone-chilling ghostly fear-driven tale from literary architect / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless evil when unknowns become instruments in a dark ceremony. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving saga of endurance and primeval wickedness that will resculpt terror storytelling this season. Helmed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and tone-heavy tale follows five unacquainted souls who arise locked in a isolated lodge under the malignant dominion of Kyra, a haunted figure occupied by a time-worn scriptural evil. Anticipate to be absorbed by a theatrical venture that combines raw fear with ancestral stories, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a long-standing motif in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is challenged when the entities no longer come beyond the self, but rather inside their minds. This symbolizes the most primal layer of these individuals. The result is a edge-of-seat inner struggle where the intensity becomes a merciless struggle between innocence and sin.


In a bleak landscape, five individuals find themselves marooned under the fiendish grip and control of a uncanny apparition. As the survivors becomes paralyzed to oppose her will, stranded and preyed upon by forces inconceivable, they are thrust to battle their inner demons while the countdown unforgivingly ticks onward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion grows and relationships dissolve, forcing each soul to scrutinize their essence and the philosophy of free will itself. The danger surge with every beat, delivering a horror experience that merges supernatural terror with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to channel elemental fright, an power before modern man, working through fragile psyche, and challenging a force that erodes the self when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra demanded embodying something beyond human emotion. She is in denial until the control shifts, and that turn is soul-crushing because it is so personal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for audience access beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering viewers across the world can be part of this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first trailer, which has earned over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to global fright lovers.


Do not miss this cinematic voyage through terror. Stream *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to survive these ghostly lessons about our species.


For teasers, director cuts, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season domestic schedule fuses archetypal-possession themes, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside tentpole growls

Running from survivor-centric dread rooted in primordial scripture and including legacy revivals and incisive indie visions, 2025 looks like the most dimensioned together with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Top studios set cornerstones with known properties, in parallel streamers crowd the fall with debut heat plus ancestral chills. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is catching the kinetic energy from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, notably this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are methodical, accordingly 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium dread reemerges

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal banner sets the tone with a bold swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a clear present-tense world. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Steered by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry 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. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, reaching teens and game grownups. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streamer Exclusives: Tight funds, wide impact

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a sealed box body horror arc anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No heavy handed lore. No brand fatigue. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Series Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

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

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Mythic dread mainstreams
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The upcoming scare lineup: installments, standalone ideas, And A jammed Calendar Built For jolts

Dek: The incoming scare slate stacks right away with a January wave, and then extends through the warm months, and running into the late-year period, fusing franchise firepower, new concepts, and shrewd counter-scheduling. Studios with streamers are prioritizing responsible budgets, box-office-first windows, and social-fueled campaigns that shape the slate’s entries into national conversation.

Horror momentum into 2026

The field has turned into the most reliable move in distribution calendars, a pillar that can spike when it hits and still cushion the risk when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year reminded greenlighters that cost-conscious chillers can drive social chatter, the following year carried the beat with visionary-driven titles and slow-burn breakouts. The tailwind moved into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and awards-minded projects underscored there is demand for a spectrum, from franchise continuations to standalone ideas that play globally. The takeaway for 2026 is a grid that is strikingly coherent across the field, with defined corridors, a balance of marquee IP and untested plays, and a tightened stance on theatrical windows that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now serves as a wildcard on the schedule. The genre can kick off on almost any weekend, provide a clean hook for marketing and reels, and outstrip with crowds that appear on previews Thursday and hold through the next pass if the movie satisfies. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern telegraphs comfort in that dynamic. The calendar commences with a loaded January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a autumn push that connects to the Halloween corridor and into the next week. The program also shows the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and streamers that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and move wide at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is legacy care across interlocking continuities and classic IP. Big banners are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are shaping as ongoing narrative with a must-see charge, whether that is a art treatment that signals a re-angled tone or a talent selection that bridges a latest entry to a early run. At the meanwhile, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are returning to practical craft, in-camera effects and specific settings. That interplay hands 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and invention, which is why the genre exports well.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the focus, steering it as both a handoff and a heritage-centered character-centered film. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a heritage-honoring bent without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run leaning on classic imagery, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will go after wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format fitting quick pivots to whatever leads the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three separate pushes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is elegant, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an algorithmic mate that grows into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and micro spots that mixes love and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s pictures are marketed as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has proven that a in-your-face, hands-on effects treatment can feel top-tier on a middle budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is positioning as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror built on meticulous craft and period speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal titles shift to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that enhances both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video combines licensed films with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in archive usage, using editorial spots, genre hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival this website wins, timing horror entries closer to drop and turning into events drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a laddered of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown appetite to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is clean: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. 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 cinema-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception warrants. Look for 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 together, using select theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By share, 2026 tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on franchise value. The concern, as ever, is fatigue. The preferred tactic is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays deliver oxygen. 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 into a survival shocker premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is recognizable enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps make sense of the plan. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept clean windows did not stop a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was compelling. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to relate entries through relationships and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long breaks.

Technique and craft currents

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate indicate a continued bias toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that emphasizes aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft profiles and department features before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for red-band excess, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature and environment design, which favor booth activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid larger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Q1 into Q2 prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit 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 premium screens.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s AI companion evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man 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: 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 prickly boss claw to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance of power upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s in-camera craft and quiet 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 household haunting chiller that twists the horror of a child’s inconsistent impressions. Rating: TBD. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A comic send-up that pokes at of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 surges, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a unlucky family anchored to old terrors. Rating: pending. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 raw menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will stack across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value 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 earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sound field, and cinematography 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 Is Well Positioned

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand equity where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.