Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a fear soaked thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on global platforms

An haunting ghostly fear-driven tale from writer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an ancient force when passersby become proxies in a devilish conflict. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful episode of staying alive and archaic horror that will remodel terror storytelling this spooky time. Created by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and claustrophobic fearfest follows five individuals who are stirred trapped in a isolated house under the ominous grip of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a ancient sacrosanct terror. Prepare to be shaken by a big screen experience that merges visceral dread with biblical origins, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a mainstay element in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is turned on its head when the forces no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather inside their minds. This embodies the grimmest layer of each of them. The result is a bone-chilling mind game where the tension becomes a ongoing struggle between light and darkness.


In a barren terrain, five individuals find themselves marooned under the malicious presence and inhabitation of a unidentified character. As the cast becomes defenseless to resist her rule, exiled and tormented by beings indescribable, they are cornered to reckon with their worst nightmares while the deathwatch unceasingly winds toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread escalates and alliances crack, forcing each member to rethink their being and the idea of self-determination itself. The pressure accelerate with every second, delivering a fear-soaked story that blends spiritual fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore instinctual horror, an force born of forgotten ages, manifesting in mental cracks, and wrestling with a curse that threatens selfhood when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra needed manifesting something outside normal anguish. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that flip is soul-crushing because it is so close.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure customers internationally can enjoy this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has racked up over notable views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, extending the thrill to international horror buffs.


Make sure to see this cinematic trip into the unknown. Enter *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to face these fearful discoveries about human nature.


For previews, set experiences, and announcements from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across entertainment pages and visit the movie portal.





Modern horror’s sea change: the year 2025 U.S. rollouts melds legend-infused possession, underground frights, plus returning-series thunder

Across survival horror rooted in mythic scripture and including franchise returns in concert with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is lining up as horror’s most layered plus intentionally scheduled year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. the big studios set cornerstones by way of signature titles, in tandem streaming platforms crowd the fall with new perspectives alongside ancient terrors. In the indie lane, festival-forward creators is propelled by the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween holding the peak, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are surgical, as a result 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal camp kicks off the frame with a marquee bet: a reimagined Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a clear present-tense world. Under director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. targeting mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Led by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, Warner’s schedule rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma explicitly handled, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, stretches the animatronic parade, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It books December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Long Running Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Projection: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming chiller cycle: returning titles, original films, in tandem with A hectic Calendar tailored for chills

Dek: The new scare season packs early with a January pile-up, following that runs through the warm months, and far into the holidays, weaving IP strength, new concepts, and shrewd calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are betting on tight budgets, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that position these offerings into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The field has grown into the sturdy play in annual schedules, a corner that can surge when it resonates and still safeguard the losses when it misses. After 2023 re-taught executives that cost-conscious scare machines can own social chatter, the following year continued the surge with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The carry translated to 2025, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers showed there is space for varied styles, from series extensions to standalone ideas that travel well. The end result for 2026 is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across the market, with mapped-out bands, a mix of household franchises and new concepts, and a renewed eye on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on PVOD and SVOD.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now operates like a wildcard on the grid. The genre can arrive on a wide range of weekends, offer a easy sell for promo reels and short-form placements, and exceed norms with moviegoers that arrive on first-look nights and return through the next pass if the entry lands. After a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 setup shows conviction in that dynamic. The calendar begins with a weighty January window, then turns to spring and early summer for contrast, while making space for a fall corridor that flows toward the fright window and into post-Halloween. The schedule also shows the ongoing integration of indie distributors and digital platforms that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and grow at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and long-running brands. Distribution groups are not just mounting another chapter. They are seeking to position brand continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title presentation that broadcasts a new vibe or a casting choice that ties a next film to a first wave. At the meanwhile, the visionaries behind the most buzzed-about originals are prioritizing hands-on technique, physical gags and place-driven backdrops. That pairing hands the 2026 slate a smart balance of comfort and surprise, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount plants an early flag with two prominent bets that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the heart, angling it as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance suggests a roots-evoking mode without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Plan for a rollout built on legacy iconography, initial cast looks, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will feature. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will go after wide appeal through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever rules the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is straightforward, soulful, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an machine companion that grows into a fatal companion. The date nudges it to the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to revisit strange in-person beats and snackable content that interlaces companionship and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an PR pop closer to the first trailer. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as auteur events, with a teaser that holds back and a next wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has shown that a gnarly, physical-effects centered aesthetic can feel premium on a efficient spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror shock that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio places two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around canon, and monster design, elements that can boost IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books 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 driven by careful craft and archaic language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with global originals and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix keeps have a peek here options open about Netflix films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries near their drops and this page elevating as drops debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, elevated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a theatrical-first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday frame to move out. That positioning has served the company well for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is elevating character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the deal build is comforting enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set frame the model. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept streaming intact did not prevent a day-date move from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in premium formats. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reframe POV and widen scale. 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 two-step approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, allows marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued bias toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and guild coverage before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster realization and design, which fit with convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that elevate surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that play in premium auditoriums.

Annual flow

January is busy. 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 brooding contrast amid marquee brands. The month winds down 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 stiff, but the spread of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Post-January through spring load in summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a bridge slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a opaque tease strategy and limited teasers that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s artificial companion evolves into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the chain of command swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fear, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting setup that threads the dread through a child’s flickering perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-grade and marquee-led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that teases contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a young family lashed to lingering terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: continuing. 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 time-true diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces drive this lineup. First, production that decelerated or reshuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured 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 dumps. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify shareable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will stack across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment without needing superhero-level volume to break even. horror 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 chase continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 exploit those windows. 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 Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, aural design, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is name recognition where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.