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

A unnerving ghostly shockfest from creator / director Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric terror when drifters become tokens in a demonic experiment. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of survival and primordial malevolence that will revamp fear-driven cinema this ghoul season. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and shadowy motion picture follows five unknowns who snap to trapped in a wilderness-bound hideaway under the dark will of Kyra, a central character haunted by a ancient sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be ensnared by a narrative display that merges deep-seated panic with folklore, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a mainstay trope in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is challenged when the beings no longer descend outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This symbolizes the grimmest version of all involved. The result is a harrowing mind game where the emotions becomes a brutal tug-of-war between innocence and sin.


In a remote woodland, five figures find themselves isolated under the malicious presence and control of a shadowy figure. As the survivors becomes incapable to escape her curse, severed and attacked by forces mind-shattering, they are obligated to acknowledge their inner horrors while the moments unceasingly edges forward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear swells and alliances shatter, coercing each person to contemplate their essence and the notion of decision-making itself. The cost amplify with every fleeting time, delivering a chilling narrative that intertwines occult fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to awaken basic terror, an evil that existed before mankind, manifesting in inner turmoil, and dealing with a being that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra needed manifesting something darker than pain. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that shift is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for streaming beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving audiences across the world can dive into this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first preview, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, offering the tale to a worldwide audience.


Avoid skipping this unforgettable spiral into evil. Explore *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to survive these ghostly lessons about inner darkness.


For previews, making-of footage, and announcements from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit the film’s website.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: the 2025 cycle U.S. calendar braids together myth-forward possession, underground frights, set against legacy-brand quakes

Beginning with fight-to-live nightmare stories grounded in mythic scripture to legacy revivals plus pointed art-house angles, 2025 appears poised to be the most complex as well as tactically planned year in years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Top studios hold down the year with familiar IP, concurrently OTT services flood the fall with discovery plays and archetypal fear. Across the art-house lane, festival-forward creators is catching the momentum of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are methodical, accordingly 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with a statement play: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Booked into 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. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures delivers the closing chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma as theme, along with eerie supernatural rules. The ante is higher this round, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The return delves further into myth, broadens the animatronic terror cast, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Digital Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a calculated bet. No swollen lore. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

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

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Emerging Currents

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Laurels convert to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

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 must claw for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next scare lineup: entries, new stories, and also A loaded Calendar designed for shocks

Dek The brand-new terror cycle loads from the jump with a January wave, following that extends through the warm months, and pushing into the holidays, mixing name recognition, inventive spins, and well-timed counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are leaning into cost discipline, exclusive theatrical windows first, and platform-native promos that elevate genre releases into mainstream chatter.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The field has turned into the sturdy play in studio slates, a corner that can break out when it performs and still hedge the drag when it misses. After the 2023 year showed top brass that low-to-mid budget chillers can dominate pop culture, the following year kept the drumbeat going with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The head of steam extended into 2025, where reawakened brands and prestige plays showed there is appetite for diverse approaches, from returning installments to filmmaker-driven originals that export nicely. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across companies, with defined corridors, a balance of brand names and first-time concepts, and a sharpened eye on theater exclusivity that boost PVOD and platform value on premium rental and platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now slots in as a wildcard on the grid. The genre can open on numerous frames, deliver a quick sell for teasers and TikTok spots, and exceed norms with audiences that line up on first-look nights and return through the subsequent weekend if the film connects. Post a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates confidence in that model. The calendar gets underway with a stacked January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a fall run that runs into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The gridline also highlights the increasing integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and scale up at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is legacy care across connected story worlds and long-running brands. Major shops are not just turning out another chapter. They are seeking to position lineage with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a refreshed voice or a star attachment that connects a upcoming film to a vintage era. At the simultaneously, the filmmakers behind the marquee originals are championing tactile craft, in-camera effects and place-driven backdrops. That blend produces 2026 a smart balance of known notes and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount plants an early flag with two front-of-slate moves that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the lead, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a back-to-basics character study. Production is active in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a heritage-honoring mode without repeating the last two entries’ sibling arc. Plan for a rollout built on franchise iconography, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via 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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counter-slot, this one will go after general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, tragic, and commercial: a grieving man onboards an synthetic partner that grows into a killer companion. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on odd public stunts and short-cut promos that hybridizes romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a official title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His projects are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later trailer push that define feel without revealing the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor affords Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, in-camera leaning mix can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror shot that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is describing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build assets around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can increase premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in historical precision and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that amplifies both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the later window. Prime Video interleaves acquired titles with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using prominent placements, fright rows, and programmed rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival grabs, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, modernized for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to move out. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, the 2026 slate bends toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is leading with core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a buzzed-about director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on Get More Info a recognizable brand, the deal build is familiar enough to generate pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Comps from the last three years make sense of the template. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that respected streaming windows did not foreclose a day-date move from thriving when the brand was potent. In 2024, art-forward horror hit big in premium formats. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they shift POV and elevate scope. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to leave creative active without hiatuses.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this slate signal a continued move toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that spotlights tone and tension rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft profiles and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a first look that elevates tone over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for red-band excess, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta inflection that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature and environment design, which align with con floor moments and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that emphasize surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

January is full. 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 foggy reset amid heavier IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the variety of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth spreads.

February through May set up the summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a slow-reveal plan and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s intelligent companion turns into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 collide with a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: atmospheric 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 difficult boss fight to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance shifts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to menace, anchored by Cronin’s hands-on craft and rising 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 domestic haunting story that twists the fright of a child’s fragile senses. Rating: not yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed and A-list fronted occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satirical comeback that teases of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further opens again, with a fresh family bound to ancient dread. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: not yet rated. Production: continuing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 ancient menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026, why now

Three hands-on forces structure this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming releases. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest turnkey scare beats from test screenings, select scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, and visuals 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 Shapes Up Strong

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand equity where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.