Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases antediluvian malevolence, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 across top digital platforms

This bone-chilling metaphysical thriller from scriptwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an mythic evil when unfamiliar people become conduits in a cursed ceremony. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful tale of survival and primeval wickedness that will reimagine the horror genre this October. Visualized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and cinematic suspense flick follows five characters who snap to ensnared in a far-off cottage under the menacing power of Kyra, a tormented girl consumed by a legendary biblical demon. Anticipate to be captivated by a motion picture ride that harmonizes primitive horror with biblical origins, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a recurring foundation in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is redefined when the dark entities no longer emerge from a different plane, but rather from within. This represents the darkest aspect of every character. The result is a harrowing mind game where the plotline becomes a unforgiving tug-of-war between good and evil.


In a bleak natural abyss, five figures find themselves confined under the ghastly presence and control of a secretive character. As the group becomes unable to fight her manipulation, abandoned and targeted by forces impossible to understand, they are forced to wrestle with their raw vulnerabilities while the countdown harrowingly winds toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension mounts and connections splinter, demanding each character to reconsider their being and the philosophy of conscious will itself. The intensity amplify with every instant, delivering a horror experience that fuses otherworldly panic with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to extract pure dread, an spirit beyond recorded history, influencing inner turmoil, and highlighting a will that peels away humanity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant evoking something beyond human emotion. She is ignorant until the curse activates, and that transformation is bone-chilling because it is so deep.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing streamers anywhere can experience this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its initial teaser, which has collected over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, presenting the nightmare to horror fans worldwide.


Witness this visceral spiral into evil. Stream *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to confront these dark realities about the mind.


For teasers, production news, and insider scoops directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit the movie portal.





American horror’s decisive shift: the 2025 season American release plan weaves legend-infused possession, independent shockers, alongside series shake-ups

From endurance-driven terror rooted in near-Eastern lore and onward to returning series and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 looks like the most variegated along with tactically planned year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios plant stakes across the year using marquee IP, simultaneously SVOD players flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs set against ancient terrors. On the festival side, horror’s indie wing is propelled by the tailwinds from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are methodical, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, instead in a current-day frame. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Led by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

By late summer, the Warner Bros. banner sets loose the finale inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, with ghostly inner logic. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It opens in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: Economy, maximum dread

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

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a sealed box body horror arc led by 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. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: 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

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

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 looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Dials to Watch

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

Body horror swings back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to 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. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The forthcoming 2026 Horror Year Ahead: entries, fresh concepts, and also A stacked Calendar optimized for chills

Dek The brand-new scare season lines up from the jump with a January logjam, thereafter unfolds through summer corridors, and well into the December corridor, mixing legacy muscle, fresh ideas, and shrewd release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that frame these films into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the bankable tool in distribution calendars, a lane that can expand when it connects and still limit the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that low-to-mid budget pictures can lead cultural conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum moved into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is a lane for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that perform internationally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with planned clusters, a balance of marquee IP and new concepts, and a reinvigorated commitment on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and streaming.

Executives say the category now acts as a flex slot on the calendar. The genre can bow on nearly any frame, yield a easy sell for spots and TikTok spots, and outpace with crowds that arrive on first-look nights and sustain through the second weekend if the title fires. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration shows belief in that equation. The slate starts with a weighty January corridor, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while carving room for a late-year stretch that runs into spooky season and past the holiday. The layout also illustrates the ongoing integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A companion trend is brand curation across unified worlds and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just rolling another chapter. They are aiming to frame lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that announces a fresh attitude or a star attachment that bridges a next film to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are returning to real-world builds, physical gags and concrete locations. That interplay yields 2026 a strong blend of home base and novelty, which is how the films export.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two front-of-slate moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, presenting it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative posture points to a legacy-leaning approach without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a tease cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a summer alternative, this one will build large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three clear strategies. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is elegant, grief-rooted, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an digital partner that grows into a lethal partner. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to mirror odd public stunts and short-cut promos that interlaces love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His projects are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later trailer push that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date creates space for Universal to command 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, practical-effects forward treatment can feel big on a middle budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both fans and novices. The fall slot allows Sony to build artifacts around universe detail, and monster craft, elements that can increase large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places 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 rigorous craft and period language, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus’s team has already locked the day for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. The studio’s horror films feed copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a stair-step that fortifies both initial urgency and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video combines licensed content with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using prominent placements, holiday hubs, and programmed rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix originals and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries near their drops and framing as events rollouts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a staged of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has indicated interest to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie corridors

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 tight: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday slot to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for Get More Info director-led genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception warrants. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Balance of brands and originals

By proportion, 2026 bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on franchise value. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The workable fix is to brand each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and director-driven titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date try from hitting when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters lensed back-to-back, permits marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in feature stories and craft features before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which fit with expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

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 island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now can handle 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will command 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 declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s artificial companion grows into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced 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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 push to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, shaped by Cronin’s material craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting narrative that explores the unease of a child’s fragile POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-built and toplined 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 parody reboot that needles current genre trends and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a another family caught in residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and elemental fear. Rating: not yet rated. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and condensed timelines. 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, metered scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The stealth-hit search 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 harvest those lanes. 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, 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 pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, 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 materiality, soundscape, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.