Primordial Evil Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across top digital platforms

A chilling paranormal thriller from dramatist / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an long-buried curse when strangers become victims in a hellish experiment. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching journey of overcoming and primordial malevolence that will reimagine horror this harvest season. Created by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and eerie fearfest follows five teens who come to locked in a off-grid structure under the ominous control of Kyra, a central character haunted by a millennia-old scriptural evil. Be warned to be hooked by a screen-based event that blends visceral dread with mystical narratives, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a time-honored narrative in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the malevolences no longer appear outside the characters, but rather within themselves. This illustrates the most hidden shade of the victims. The result is a edge-of-seat inner struggle where the plotline becomes a constant tug-of-war between heaven and hell.


In a bleak wild, five characters find themselves cornered under the malicious effect and overtake of a uncanny female figure. As the characters becomes defenseless to reject her manipulation, left alone and hunted by forces unnamable, they are required to encounter their inner horrors while the time unforgivingly runs out toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear builds and relationships collapse, prompting each person to challenge their character and the idea of free will itself. The consequences climb with every instant, delivering a scare-fueled ride that marries paranormal dread with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to explore core terror, an power that predates humanity, emerging via our fears, and questioning a presence that tests the soul when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra was centered on something far beyond human desperation. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that metamorphosis is deeply unsettling because it is so emotional.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for digital release beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving streamers around the globe can survive this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its release of trailer #1, which has received over strong viewer count.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, making the film to international horror buffs.


Mark your calendar for this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Face *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to uncover these fearful discoveries about the mind.


For director insights, making-of footage, and reveals via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursed across social media and visit the movie portal.





The horror genre’s Turning Point: the year 2025 U.S. release slate weaves archetypal-possession themes, indie terrors, alongside franchise surges

Kicking off with life-or-death fear saturated with primordial scripture and extending to returning series alongside acutely observed indies, 2025 is lining up as the most dimensioned and strategic year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses are anchoring the year with known properties, in tandem streamers prime the fall with new perspectives plus old-world menace. Meanwhile, festival-forward creators is riding the afterglow of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are calculated, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

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

Universal’s distribution arm lights the fuse with an audacious swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate unveils the final movement from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson returns, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma centered writing, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The follow up digs further into canon, broadens the animatronic terror cast, reaching teens and game grownups. It opens in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits 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 story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: 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. Authored and directed 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.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror ascends again
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The new Horror year to come: next chapters, standalone ideas, as well as A brimming Calendar Built For Scares

Dek The incoming scare calendar crams from the jump with a January traffic jam, after that carries through the warm months, and running into the holiday stretch, fusing brand heft, new concepts, and well-timed calendar placement. Studios with streamers are leaning into lean spends, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that position these pictures into water-cooler talk.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has established itself as the most reliable option in annual schedules, a space that can spike when it clicks and still cushion the exposure when it misses. After the 2023 year signaled to executives that low-to-mid budget scare machines can steer cultural conversation, 2024 maintained heat with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam fed into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films made clear there is room for diverse approaches, from series extensions to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The result for 2026 is a grid that appears tightly organized across the field, with mapped-out bands, a harmony of brand names and untested plays, and a recommitted attention on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on premium rental and home platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now works like a versatile piece on the rollout map. Horror can debut on almost any weekend, offer a clean hook for trailers and social clips, and lead with ticket buyers that come out on Thursday nights and return through the second weekend if the title delivers. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping indicates confidence in that logic. The slate begins with a weighty January corridor, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a fall corridor that pushes into the Halloween frame and into the next week. The layout also shows the deeper integration of specialized labels and OTT outlets that can launch in limited release, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across linked properties and heritage properties. Studios are not just rolling another installment. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that reconnects a next entry to a heyday. At the meanwhile, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing on-set craft, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That alloy hands the 2026 slate a lively combination of recognition and novelty, which is the formula for international play.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount fires first with two front-of-slate titles that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a fan-service aware strategy without covering again the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Count on a promo wave driven by heritage visuals, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will feature. As a summer alternative, this one will generate general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined strategies. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an AI companion that shifts into a lethal partner. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that interlaces romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be 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 allows a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the early tease. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s pictures are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser that reveals little and a second beat that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 leading. The franchise has proven that a visceral, practical-first method can feel prestige on a mid-range budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror shot that leans hard into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is selling as a fresh restart 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 clearer mandate to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can lift large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror built on careful craft and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal titles flow to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a pacing that fortifies both FOMO and sub growth in the downstream. Prime Video balances library titles with cross-border buys and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in deep cuts, using seasonal hubs, fright rows, and editorial rows to sustain interest on 2026 genre cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival pickups, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and eventizing premieres with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a hybrid of precision releases and fast windowing that turns chatter to conversion. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has indicated interest to secure select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 lane with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is simple: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, retooled for modern sonics 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 indicated a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday corridor to widen. That positioning has served the company well for prestige horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception justifies. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using boutique theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate leans toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness fan equity. The caveat, as ever, is fatigue. The operating solution is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is spotlighting character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-flavored turn from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the packaging is grounded enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not deter a same-day experiment from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to link the films through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind 2026 horror suggest a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft journalism and guild coverage before rolling out a first look that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which favor con floor moments and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that explode in larger rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is stacked. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid heavier IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring stage summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a slow-reveal plan and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to 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 algorithmic partner shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss push to survive on a rugged island as the chain of imp source command flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to dread, anchored by Cronin’s practical effects and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting piece that mediates the fear via a minor’s unreliable subjective view. Rating: TBA. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural 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 satirical comeback that riffs on of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family snared by ancient dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: to be announced. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and primal menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, metered scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

The slot calculus is real. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will cluster across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 chase 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, soundscape, and framing 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

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand power where it counts, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.