Antediluvian Terror Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling chiller, arriving October 2025 across global platforms

One blood-curdling mystic terror film from creator / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial malevolence when outsiders become vehicles in a devilish struggle. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a intense account of perseverance and ancient evil that will reimagine the fear genre this fall. Directed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and tone-heavy fearfest follows five people who awaken stuck in a hidden lodge under the ominous grip of Kyra, a central character inhabited by a prehistoric Old Testament spirit. Be warned to be hooked by a screen-based spectacle that combines primitive horror with folklore, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a recurring foundation in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the malevolences no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather within themselves. This illustrates the grimmest side of all involved. The result is a emotionally raw identity crisis where the events becomes a brutal confrontation between right and wrong.


In a barren terrain, five adults find themselves cornered under the malicious influence and spiritual invasion of a elusive being. As the cast becomes incapacitated to withstand her grasp, isolated and hunted by entities beyond reason, they are driven to stand before their emotional phantoms while the doomsday meter coldly edges forward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension mounts and partnerships dissolve, prompting each person to contemplate their personhood and the integrity of autonomy itself. The consequences climb with every beat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that blends mystical fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to awaken ancestral fear, an malevolence beyond recorded history, influencing emotional vulnerability, and wrestling with a presence that threatens selfhood when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra was centered on something unfamiliar to reason. She is innocent until the haunting manifests, and that metamorphosis is harrowing because it is so close.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that fans internationally can dive into this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has racked up over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, presenting the nightmare to scare fans abroad.


Join this visceral trip into the unknown. Stream *Young & Cursed* this launch day to uncover these terrifying truths about existence.


For cast commentary, making-of footage, and press updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursed across fan hubs and visit the official digital haunt.





Modern horror’s major pivot: the year 2025 U.S. calendar fuses legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, plus legacy-brand quakes

Moving from life-or-death fear drawn from old testament echoes as well as installment follow-ups set beside surgical indie voices, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified along with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, concurrently OTT services load up the fall with new voices together with scriptural shivers. Across the art-house lane, horror’s indie wing is catching the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule opens the year with an audacious swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. set for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer winds down, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. While the template is known, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The bar is raised this go, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The new chapter enriches the lore, stretches the animatronic parade, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters bet on familiarity, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror chamber piece fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and helmed 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. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is canny scheduling. No heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Long Running Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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

Platform originals gain bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new chiller release year: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, as well as A packed Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The fresh scare slate crams in short order with a January crush, before it unfolds through peak season, and well into the late-year period, balancing brand heft, original angles, and tactical counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that pivot these offerings into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has grown into the consistent tool in studio slates, a genre that can surge when it clicks and still buffer the risk when it stumbles. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for strategy teams that lean-budget genre plays can dominate mainstream conversation, the following year held pace with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The run moved into 2025, where re-entries and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is a lane for a spectrum, from returning installments to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The upshot for 2026 is a slate that presents tight coordination across players, with intentional bunching, a mix of familiar brands and new packages, and a tightened commitment on cinema windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and digital services.

Planners observe the category now acts as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can bow on virtually any date, offer a simple premise for promo reels and vertical videos, and exceed norms with crowds that arrive on Thursday nights and stick through the sophomore frame if the feature pays off. Emerging from a production delay era, the 2026 mapping demonstrates confidence in that model. The slate launches with a stacked January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a October build that reaches into the Halloween frame and into early November. The gridline also spotlights the continuing integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, ignite recommendations, and widen at the optimal moment.

A companion trend is legacy care across shared IP webs and established properties. Major shops are not just making another return. They are looking to package lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that signals a reframed mood or a casting pivot that binds a next film to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing practical craft, on-set effects and specific settings. That pairing delivers 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and invention, which is what works overseas.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount plants an early flag with two headline releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a throwback-friendly strategy without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. Anticipate a campaign stacked with iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that evolves into a perilous partner. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to reprise creepy live activations and micro spots that interlaces love and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s pictures are framed as signature events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a gritty, makeup-driven method can feel premium on a lean spend. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror charge that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, carrying a reliable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is selling as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and newcomers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build artifacts around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify premium booking interest and fan-culture participation.

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 sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by historical precision and language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is warm.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s horror titles feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that amplifies both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances third-party pickups with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library curation, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix keeps optionality about in-house releases and festival deals, scheduling horror entries tight to release and eventizing rollouts with surge 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 prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with established auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 sequence with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a standard theatrical run for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for director-led genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception merits. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French sensibility from a rising filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add 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 in a survival shocker premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the packaging is grounded enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps outline the playbook. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not foreclose a simultaneous release test from performing when the brand was powerful. In 2024, director-craft horror outperformed in premium formats. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to interlace chapters through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

Production craft signals

The creative meetings behind the 2026 entries indicate a continued lean toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers texture and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for immersive 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 rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature work and production design, which fit with fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar cadence

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the range of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring set up the summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Back half 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 arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a slow-reveal plan and limited teasers that center concept over reveals.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s machine mate unfolds into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 tough boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the power balance reverses and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 terror, founded on Cronin’s tactile craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting setup that channels the fear through a little one’s unsteady POV. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-financed and headline-actor led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that pokes at of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new household linked to old terrors. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Check This Out Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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

Why 2026 and why now

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or recalendared in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming drops. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

The slot calculus is real. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where modest-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient screen counts, 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 grain, audio design, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shudders sell the seats.