Age-old Terror Stirs within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising thriller, bowing October 2025 across global platforms

A terrifying supernatural suspense film from narrative craftsman / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an archaic malevolence when outsiders become vehicles in a supernatural ritual. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a intense chronicle of resistance and primeval wickedness that will redefine the horror genre this October. Directed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and tone-heavy tale follows five strangers who suddenly rise ensnared in a hidden house under the ominous command of Kyra, a tormented girl dominated by a millennia-old Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be ensnared by a narrative venture that unites raw fear with ancient myths, coming 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 fixture in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is inverted when the malevolences no longer come from external sources, but rather from deep inside. This illustrates the malevolent element of these individuals. The result is a intense mind game where the plotline becomes a ongoing push-pull between moral forces.


In a unforgiving landscape, five characters find themselves caught under the ghastly influence and overtake of a mysterious spirit. As the team becomes incapable to combat her manipulation, left alone and attacked by spirits unfathomable, they are cornered to wrestle with their inner demons while the seconds ruthlessly draws closer toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion escalates and alliances collapse, demanding each figure to question their true nature and the integrity of personal agency itself. The hazard surge with every beat, delivering a frightening tale that weaves together supernatural terror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to evoke deep fear, an curse from prehistory, operating within inner turmoil, and testing a spirit that tests the soul when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra involved tapping into something more primal than sorrow. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that turn is gut-wrenching because it is so intimate.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering users globally can be part of this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its release of trailer #1, which has gathered over six-figure audience.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, delivering the story to thrill-seekers globally.


Join this bone-rattling path of possession. Stream *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to face these fearful discoveries about existence.


For exclusive trailers, behind-the-scenes content, and promotions via the production team, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





Modern horror’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 American release plan Mixes primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, and series shake-ups

Beginning with pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in scriptural legend as well as legacy revivals together with incisive indie visions, 2025 is emerging as the most dimensioned together with blueprinted year in recent memory.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. leading studios hold down the year with franchise anchors, at the same time streaming platforms pack the fall with discovery plays in concert with ancient terrors. At the same time, indie storytellers is fueled by the tailwinds from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A fat September–October lane is customary now, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are precise, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: High-craft horror returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s pipeline kicks off the frame with a confident swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a modern-day environment. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Directed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline delivers the closing chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 follows. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the memorable motifs return: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, along with eerie supernatural rules. The bar is raised this go, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, grows the animatronic horror lineup, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror duet starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

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

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. 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 is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 terror slate: follow-ups, original films, together with A brimming Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The brand-new horror season crowds up front with a January bottleneck, then rolls through midyear, and carrying into the December corridor, braiding name recognition, new concepts, and data-minded offsets. Major distributors and platforms are betting on efficient budgets, theatrical leads, and influencer-ready assets that elevate these releases into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has become the predictable move in release strategies, a vertical that can spike when it catches and still hedge the downside when it fails to connect. After 2023 proved to executives that lean-budget shockers can steer the national conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and stealth successes. The trend rolled into 2025, where reboots and awards-minded projects highlighted there is appetite for varied styles, from returning installments to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The end result for 2026 is a lineup that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of legacy names and new concepts, and a refocused stance on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and home streaming.

Insiders argue the space now behaves like a versatile piece on the grid. The genre can bow on almost any weekend, generate a tight logline for spots and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with crowds that appear on early shows and stay strong through the next weekend if the entry works. In the wake of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores assurance in that logic. The calendar gets underway with a heavy January block, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a fall run that carries into the fright window and afterwards. The map also spotlights the ongoing integration of specialty arms and streamers that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and widen at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is brand management across linked properties and established properties. The companies are not just mounting another next film. They are looking to package lineage with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a new vibe or a casting choice that binds a new installment to a original cycle. At the same time, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing in-camera technique, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That pairing gives 2026 a solid mix of known notes and unexpected turns, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket entries that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture conveys a roots-evoking mode without repeating the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout stacked with franchise iconography, character previews, and a promo sequence hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects 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 contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo uncanny live moments and bite-size content that interweaves longing and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s pictures are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot creates space for Universal to maximize 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has established that a flesh-and-blood, practical-first strategy can feel elevated on a lean spend. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror rush that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is selling as a new take 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 well-defined brief to serve both devotees and novices. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around setting detail, and creature design, elements that can increase premium format interest and cosplayer momentum.

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 defined by historical precision and historical speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Windowing plans in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that expands both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog discovery, using timely promos, fright rows, and featured rows to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a two-step of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with award winners or star packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 lane with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to open out. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchises versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate favors the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use fan equity. The caveat, as ever, is brand erosion. The pragmatic answer is to package each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a fresh helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is grounded enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps frame the method. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror over-performed in premium screens. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to link the films through relationships and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind this slate hint at a continued preference for practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that leans on texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gross-out texture, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which lend themselves to convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

January is crowded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month wraps 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 thick, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth sustains.

Q1 into Q2 prepare summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that put concept first.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s AI companion becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 hard-edged boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance swivels and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, shaped by Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting premise that frames the panic through a little one’s uncertain internal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that skewers today’s horror trends and true-crime obsessions. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 breaks out, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further extends again, with a fresh family entangled with past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in progress. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and elemental dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three grounded forces define this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. 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 sleeper-hit 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 stealth overachiever 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 this contact form 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, 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 flow and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing 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 appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, 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 detail, soundcraft, 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.