Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming October 2025 across major platforms

This chilling metaphysical horror tale from author / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried force when drifters become proxies in a satanic conflict. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing account of struggle and primordial malevolence that will reimagine scare flicks this spooky time. Created by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and moody film follows five people who arise trapped in a wilderness-bound dwelling under the sinister will of Kyra, a troubled woman consumed by a millennia-old religious nightmare. Be warned to be captivated by a cinematic outing that melds bone-deep fear with mystical narratives, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a classic element in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is challenged when the forces no longer originate from an outside force, but rather from their core. This depicts the deepest layer of all involved. The result is a edge-of-seat spiritual tug-of-war where the tension becomes a ongoing confrontation between virtue and vice.


In a haunting outland, five youths find themselves sealed under the fiendish dominion and infestation of a enigmatic character. As the group becomes vulnerable to resist her dominion, marooned and preyed upon by spirits ungraspable, they are driven to stand before their darkest emotions while the countdown unceasingly strikes toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease builds and connections implode, requiring each individual to evaluate their identity and the foundation of self-determination itself. The risk amplify with every breath, delivering a frightening tale that combines mystical fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dig into primitive panic, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, manipulating mental cracks, and confronting a darkness that peels away humanity when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was centered on something rooted in terror. She is unseeing until the entity awakens, and that conversion is emotionally raw because it is so close.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing customers anywhere can survive this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original promo, which has received over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, presenting the nightmare to lovers of terror across nations.


Avoid skipping this life-altering trip into the unknown. Face *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to survive these ghostly lessons about human nature.


For teasers, director cuts, and press updates directly from production, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





The horror genre’s Turning Point: the 2025 cycle stateside slate Mixes ancient-possession motifs, microbudget gut-punches, set against IP aftershocks

Spanning survivor-centric dread infused with primordial scripture to series comebacks in concert with acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like the richest together with calculated campaign year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios bookend the months with known properties, in tandem platform operators stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs together with old-world menace. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is catching the kinetic energy from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween stays the prime week, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, yet in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are precise, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The top end is active. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s pipeline kicks off the frame with a confident swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Under Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, the Warner Bros. banner launches the swan song from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: nostalgic menace, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The ante is higher this round, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The next entry deepens the tale, broadens the animatronic terror cast, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, pinning the winter close.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, 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 virtually assured for fall.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a smart play. No heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

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 kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. 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. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

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

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI 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, with Francis Lawrence directing, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Key Trends

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror reemerges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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 like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Watch for one or more of these 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. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The upcoming terror lineup: Sequels, standalone ideas, paired with A stacked Calendar aimed at Scares

Dek: The emerging scare year crowds early with a January crush, from there rolls through the warm months, and deep into the year-end corridor, fusing IP strength, new concepts, and savvy release strategy. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on smart costs, cinema-first plans, and shareable marketing that frame these pictures into broad-appeal conversations.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the predictable swing in release plans, a lane that can lift when it clicks and still safeguard the losses when it stumbles. After 2023 reconfirmed for buyers that modestly budgeted pictures can lead social chatter, 2024 maintained heat with signature-voice projects and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam fed into 2025, where reboots and critical darlings showed there is a lane for diverse approaches, from series extensions to fresh IP that play globally. The sum for the 2026 slate is a calendar that shows rare alignment across players, with clear date clusters, a harmony of marquee IP and novel angles, and a tightened emphasis on box-office windows that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and subscription services.

Marketers add the space now performs as a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can kick off on open real estate, yield a quick sell for promo reels and vertical videos, and outperform with audiences that turn out on preview nights and stay strong through the next weekend if the film satisfies. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan signals trust in that model. The calendar rolls out with a front-loaded January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a fall run that flows toward spooky season and into November. The schedule also highlights the continuing integration of indie arms and OTT outlets that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Distribution groups are not just rolling another entry. They are looking to package story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that reconnects a next entry to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the writer-directors behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing tactile craft, practical gags and distinct locales. That fusion yields 2026 a healthy mix of recognition and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline pushes that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, signaling it as both a handoff and a rootsy character-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a memory-charged mode without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Plan for a rollout leaning on heritage visuals, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will foreground. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three clear projects. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tidy, tragic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that turns into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with the studio’s marketing likely to reprise odd public stunts and short-cut promos that mixes intimacy and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a title drop to become an PR pop closer to the debut look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s releases are marketed as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a follow-up trailer set that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a gnarly, hands-on effects treatment can feel high-value on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror rush that emphasizes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio sets two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a evergreen supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is marketing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both diehards and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign this contact form pieces around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can lift premium format interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that maximizes both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with world buys and limited runs in theaters when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and collection rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival snaps, locking in horror entries near their drops and eventizing premieres with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a two-step of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to pick up select projects with recognized filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 runway with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clean: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, refined for modern sound and image. 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 announced a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the September weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then using the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using select theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchise entries versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate leans toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on brand equity. The concern, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a European tilt from a fresh helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is steady enough to build pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns announce the model. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not stop a day-date try from delivering when the brand was big. In 2024, auteur craft horror outperformed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reorient and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds 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 lensed sequentially, lets marketing to link the films through character and theme and to keep assets in-market without hiatuses.

Production craft signals

The craft rooms behind the 2026 entries indicate a continued emphasis on real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that highlights grain and menace rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a tone piece that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered 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 offers a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster realization and design, which favor convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel key. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that sing on PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is jammed. 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 atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the variety of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Winter into spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a bridge slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a slow-reveal plan and limited information drops that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s synthetic partner shifts into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: tone-first game 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 hierarchy tilts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to chill, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 in-home haunting setup that toys with the unease of a child’s wobbly impressions. Rating: to be announced. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-grade and celebrity-led 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 creative roles. Logline: {A comic send-up that lampoons contemporary horror memes and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. Production: shoot planned for 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 bursts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a fresh family linked to older hauntings. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survivalist horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 elemental dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three pragmatic forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shifted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then useful reference platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming drops. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on clippable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where value-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 stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, soundscape, and visual design 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 Looks Exciting

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep secrets, and click to read more let the screams sell the seats.