Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient terror, a nerve shredding chiller, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This chilling spiritual terror film from writer / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an long-buried horror when unknowns become pawns in a cursed struggle. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful story of resistance and age-old darkness that will alter horror this harvest season. Created by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and moody cinema piece follows five strangers who find themselves sealed in a hidden cottage under the hostile control of Kyra, a central character haunted by a millennia-old holy text monster. Steel yourself to be captivated by a audio-visual outing that harmonizes deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a enduring theme in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is challenged when the monsters no longer develop beyond the self, but rather deep within. This symbolizes the most primal layer of every character. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the intensity becomes a brutal face-off between righteousness and malevolence.


In a isolated landscape, five adults find themselves marooned under the malicious sway and control of a mysterious spirit. As the youths becomes incapable to resist her command, detached and attacked by spirits unfathomable, they are thrust to deal with their deepest fears while the hours mercilessly edges forward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust rises and teams break, pressuring each protagonist to question their identity and the foundation of volition itself. The pressure magnify with every breath, delivering a nightmarish journey that combines spiritual fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to draw upon instinctual horror, an malevolence beyond time, channeling itself through psychological breaks, and exposing a entity that threatens selfhood when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant channeling something far beyond human desperation. She is insensitive until the haunting manifests, and that pivot is harrowing because it is so internal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audiences beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing users no matter where they are can survive this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original clip, which has racked up over strong viewer count.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, extending the thrill to thrill-seekers globally.


Make sure to see this soul-jarring fall into madness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to uncover these haunting secrets about human nature.


For director insights, special features, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your favorite networks and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season domestic schedule braids together primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, together with brand-name tremors

From survival horror saturated with primordial scripture all the way to franchise returns together with keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the most variegated in tandem with deliberate year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses set cornerstones through proven series, while OTT services front-load the fall with new voices in concert with primordial unease. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are intentional, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in an immediate now. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Steered by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate releases the last chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a close quarters body horror study featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, 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.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, Directed by 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.

Signals and Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror reemerges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The approaching terror lineup: returning titles, original films, in tandem with A brimming Calendar aimed at screams

Dek The incoming horror calendar stacks from day one with a January pile-up, and then unfolds through summer corridors, and far into the holiday stretch, blending IP strength, creative pitches, and smart offsets. Studios and streamers are embracing mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that elevate these pictures into water-cooler talk.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the sturdy move in studio calendars, a segment that can scale when it performs and still buffer the risk when it stumbles. After 2023 reminded top brass that mid-range scare machines can shape mainstream conversation, the following year sustained momentum with auteur-driven buzzy films and quiet over-performers. The tailwind carried into the 2025 frame, where revivals and prestige plays confirmed there is room for varied styles, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that play globally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a schedule that seems notably aligned across the market, with defined corridors, a harmony of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a renewed focus on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and platforms.

Executives say the category now acts as a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can open on open real estate, furnish a clear pitch for promo reels and shorts, and outperform with ticket buyers that turn out on first-look nights and sustain through the second weekend if the release fires. After a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout exhibits confidence in that model. The calendar launches with a loaded January lineup, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a October build that runs into the Halloween corridor and into the next week. The calendar also highlights the ongoing integration of indie distributors and SVOD players that can develop over weeks, spark evangelism, and move wide at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is legacy care across connected story worlds and established properties. Distribution groups are not just releasing another follow-up. They are seeking to position threaded continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a brandmark that signals a tonal shift or a casting choice that threads a fresh chapter to a early run. At the very same time, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on on-set craft, on-set effects and distinct locales. That alloy gives 2026 a vital pairing of comfort and freshness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character study. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a legacy-leaning approach without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout leaning on classic imagery, character previews, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will generate wide buzz through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format making room for quick reframes to whatever leads pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is straightforward, melancholic, and big-hook: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that mutates into a deadly partner. The date locates it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to renew strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that mixes longing and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a public title to become an attention spike closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His entries are set up as event films, with a mystery-first teaser and a follow-up trailer set that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to maximize 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a visceral, on-set effects led style can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror hit that spotlights global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins 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 immersive craft and language, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate shift to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that maximizes both launch urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video will mix library titles with world buys and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using timely promos, genre hubs, and curated rows to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix films and festival pickups, finalizing horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of focused cinema runs and speedy platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to purchase select projects with name filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 pipeline with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is straightforward: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, recalibrated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a standard theatrical run for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the fall weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then using the holiday corridor to expand. That positioning has paid off for director-led genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using precision theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchises versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is spotlighting character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the deal build is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept streaming intact did not hamper a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was powerful. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror over-performed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reorient and expand the canvas. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, permits marketing to tie installments through relationships and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft rooms behind 2026 horror foreshadow a continued emphasis on material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that highlights mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft profiles and guild coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which match well with con floor moments and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that accent fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar cadence

January is jammed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid heavier IP. 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 serious, but the palette of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s AI companion escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 claw to survive on a desolate island as the control balance tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

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 fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting setup that refracts terror through a little one’s unsteady personal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-scale and headline-actor led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that skewers present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new household entangled with long-buried horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBD. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 primordial menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three pragmatic forces organize this lineup. First, production that eased or recalendared in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and tighter 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine social-ready stingers from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, creating valuable space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the optimal 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 news 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 compound over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient screen counts, 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 grain, soundscape, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is name recognition where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, lock the reveals, and let the chills sell the seats.