Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives age-old dread, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on premium platforms

A hair-raising metaphysical shockfest from screenwriter / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial force when passersby become tokens in a hellish maze. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing portrayal of continuance and archaic horror that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this fall. Created by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and shadowy screenplay follows five young adults who find themselves isolated in a off-grid hideaway under the malignant will of Kyra, a young woman possessed by a prehistoric sacrosanct terror. Ready yourself to be shaken by a audio-visual presentation that melds deep-seated panic with folklore, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a legendary theme in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is reversed when the forces no longer arise from beyond, but rather through their own souls. This symbolizes the haunting aspect of all involved. The result is a riveting emotional conflict where the conflict becomes a constant face-off between righteousness and malevolence.


In a unforgiving outland, five youths find themselves cornered under the evil dominion and infestation of a secretive apparition. As the group becomes submissive to evade her will, cut off and tormented by evils unimaginable, they are driven to acknowledge their inner demons while the seconds coldly ticks toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust builds and teams implode, prompting each protagonist to scrutinize their existence and the structure of conscious will itself. The pressure surge with every short lapse, delivering a frightening tale that blends occult fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to awaken elemental fright, an entity before modern man, filtering through our weaknesses, and confronting a curse that challenges autonomy when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was centered on something darker than pain. She is ignorant until the control shifts, and that turn is terrifying because it is so personal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring households from coast to coast can face this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its initial teaser, which has received over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, exporting the fear to lovers of terror across nations.


Mark your calendar for this life-altering trip into the unknown. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to face these nightmarish insights about existence.


For behind-the-scenes access, production news, and news directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursed across entertainment pages and visit our spooky domain.





Horror’s pivotal crossroads: calendar year 2025 American release plan blends legend-infused possession, art-house nightmares, and Franchise Rumbles

Kicking off with grit-forward survival fare grounded in legendary theology and stretching into IP renewals set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 appears poised to be the genre’s most multifaceted combined with blueprinted year in years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Top studios stabilize the year with familiar IP, in parallel streamers saturate the fall with discovery plays as well as old-world menace. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is drafting behind the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium dread reemerges

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the base, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. arriving mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Steered by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, Warner’s pipeline unveils the final movement from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retro dread, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. This run ups the stakes, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a sealed box body horror arc starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend featuring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, 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.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is canny scheduling. No puffed out backstory. No canon weight. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Franchise Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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

Signals and Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

What’s Next: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

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

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The approaching Horror year to come: installments, universe starters, alongside A jammed Calendar optimized for screams

Dek: The arriving horror slate crowds at the outset with a January bottleneck, after that rolls through June and July, and straight through the holiday frame, combining brand heft, novel approaches, and savvy calendar placement. Studios with streamers are betting on cost discipline, theatrical leads, and viral-minded pushes that convert these releases into national conversation.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The field has solidified as the most reliable lever in release plans, a space that can grow when it hits and still cushion the losses when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year proved to greenlighters that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can lead the national conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with director-led heat and unexpected risers. The upswing fed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and festival-grade titles underscored there is room for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to original features that resonate abroad. The combined impact for 2026 is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across companies, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of household franchises and new packages, and a re-energized stance on exhibition windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and platforms.

Buyers contend the space now acts as a utility player on the schedule. The genre can bow on a wide range of weekends, offer a simple premise for ad units and shorts, and lead with viewers that show up on preview nights and stay strong through the sophomore frame if the offering satisfies. Exiting a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 setup demonstrates faith in that approach. The slate gets underway with a heavy January schedule, then plants flags in spring and early summer for contrast, while saving space for a fall corridor that extends to the Halloween frame and beyond. The layout also highlights the tightening integration of indie arms and streamers that can platform a title, ignite recommendations, and grow at the strategic time.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and established properties. The studios are not just mounting another follow-up. They are shaping as brand continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a brandmark that announces a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that ties a fresh chapter to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating tactile craft, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That fusion produces 2026 a vital pairing of familiarity and freshness, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount sets the tone early with two prominent entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the focus, framing it as both a baton pass and a rootsy character-centered film. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture announces a memory-charged angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by recognizable motifs, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will play up. As a summer counter-slot, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick reframes to whatever leads the conversation that spring.

Universal has three defined plays. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is elegant, loss-driven, and logline-clear: a grieving man brings home an intelligent companion that unfolds into a deadly partner. The date nudges it to the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to renew odd public stunts and brief clips that fuses devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a public title to become an PR pop closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s pictures are positioned as event films, with a concept-forward tease and a later trailer push that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to command 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has proven that a in-your-face, practical-effects forward strategy can feel high-value on a middle budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is presenting as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both diehards and this contact form curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around setting detail, and practical creature work, elements that can boost premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus Features has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is warm.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films feed copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that enhances both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival grabs, scheduling horror entries near their drops and staging as events launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, great post to read which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 sequence with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clear: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, refined for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a big-screen first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Do not be surprised by 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 together, using mini theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit name recognition. The question, as ever, is overexposure. The preferred tactic is to pitch each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a European tilt from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set announce the method. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not stop a day-date try from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they rotate perspective and grow scope. 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 double feature plan, with chapters shot in tandem, permits marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to continue assets in field without lulls.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind these films signal a continued lean toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and guild coverage before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which fit with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look click to read more for trailers that spotlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the range of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May tee up summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-October slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures 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 craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Project briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s AI companion escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror 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 run into a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss fight to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy swivels and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to menace, founded on Cronin’s on-set craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that explores the unease of a child’s mercurial POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A spoof revival that pokes at contemporary horror memes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new clan bound to old terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBA. Production: underway. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 primal menace. Rating: pending. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces define this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming launches. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on shareable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 dark-horse hunt 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer 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. Expect a healthy 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, 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 dimensionality, audio design, and image-making 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is IP strength where it matters, auteur intent 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.