Age-old Evil Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling feature, premiering Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

A bone-chilling spiritual suspense film from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an ancient entity when unfamiliar people become subjects in a dark experiment. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a intense narrative of resistance and ancient evil that will reshape the fear genre this Halloween season. Crafted by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and shadowy fearfest follows five young adults who suddenly rise imprisoned in a cut-off cottage under the ominous dominion of Kyra, a cursed figure consumed by a two-thousand-year-old scriptural evil. Arm yourself to be captivated by a cinematic event that melds instinctive fear with mystical narratives, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a classic fixture in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is subverted when the beings no longer originate outside their bodies, but rather from deep inside. This portrays the most hidden corner of the cast. The result is a gripping spiritual tug-of-war where the events becomes a soul-crushing push-pull between heaven and hell.


In a isolated wilderness, five figures find themselves isolated under the sinister presence and spiritual invasion of a unknown female presence. As the ensemble becomes helpless to fight her control, isolated and chased by terrors ungraspable, they are cornered to wrestle with their core terrors while the doomsday meter without pause pushes forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion swells and friendships crack, pushing each protagonist to examine their character and the idea of freedom of choice itself. The pressure escalate with every second, delivering a nightmarish journey that connects spiritual fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dig into primal fear, an threat before modern man, embedding itself in emotional fractures, and dealing with a entity that threatens selfhood when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra needed manifesting something beneath mortal despair. She is in denial until the demon emerges, and that turn is emotionally raw because it is so emotional.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing households around the globe can engage with this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original promo, which has garnered over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, exporting the fear to scare fans abroad.


Tune in for this haunted path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these fearful discoveries about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, set experiences, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the film’s website.





The horror genre’s watershed moment: the 2025 season domestic schedule blends primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, alongside series shake-ups

Spanning last-stand terror suffused with legendary theology and stretching into brand-name continuations set beside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered together with deliberate year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors bookend the months with known properties, at the same time premium streamers flood the fall with new voices set against mythic dread. On the independent axis, the art-house flank is buoyed by the kinetic energy of 2024’s record festival wave. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the other windows are mapped with care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are methodical, as a result 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s slate kicks off the frame with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Booked into mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer winds down, the WB camp drops the final chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the outline is tried, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retrograde shiver, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, grows the animatronic horror lineup, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: Economy, maximum dread

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

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including 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 feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 smart play. No swollen lore. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Trends to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror reemerges
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Big screen is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Projection: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The 2026 spook year to come: Sequels, Originals, in tandem with A jammed Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The upcoming terror calendar packs early with a January wave, from there rolls through peak season, and continuing into the late-year period, mixing brand heft, inventive spins, and shrewd counterweight. Studios with streamers are committing to responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that shape these films into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The field has grown into the consistent tool in distribution calendars, a segment that can expand when it lands and still insulate the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 showed greenlighters that cost-conscious fright engines can lead the national conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with buzzy auteur projects and surprise hits. The trend moved into the 2025 frame, where reboots and critical darlings demonstrated there is room for multiple flavors, from returning installments to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a roster that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with defined corridors, a combination of known properties and untested plays, and a reinvigorated emphasis on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and digital services.

Executives say the genre now behaves like a flex slot on the slate. The genre can premiere on nearly any frame, yield a quick sell for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with moviegoers that respond on first-look nights and maintain momentum through the second frame if the release connects. Emerging from a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan signals faith in that setup. The year launches with a weighty January schedule, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a fall run that carries into All Hallows period and past Halloween. The calendar also includes the greater integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and widen at the precise moment.

An added macro current is brand management across unified worlds and veteran brands. Distribution groups are not just rolling another continuation. They are setting up lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that announces a new tone or a cast configuration that binds a next entry to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are prioritizing on-set craft, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That fusion gives the 2026 slate a strong blend of home base and unexpected turns, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount establishes early momentum with two spotlight bets that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, angling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a legacy-leaning mode without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Watch for a push stacked with franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counter-slot, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three specific entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tight, loss-driven, and easily pitched: a grieving man implements an AI companion that becomes a fatal companion. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to reprise viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that threads devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are sold as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a follow-up trailer set that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to own 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, practical-first aesthetic can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror hit that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio books two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is marketing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify PLF interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror centered on immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Windowing plans in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that maximizes both FOMO and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves licensed content with global originals and limited runs in theaters when the data supports it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to prolong the run on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about original films and festival wins, confirming horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a two-step of precision releases and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a situational basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors 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 leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for sustained usage when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 pipeline with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern mix and image. 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 announced a traditional cinema play for the title, an good sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday slot to open out. That positioning has been successful for prestige horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception drives. Plan on 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 in tandem, using precision theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their audience.

Balance of brands and originals

By proportion, 2026 bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand wear. The near-term solution is to package each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-flavored turn from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and auteur plays add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is known enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Three-year comps help explain the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept streaming intact did not hamper a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was potent. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they change perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to cross-link entries through character and theme and to keep assets alive without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the upcoming entries indicate a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that spotlights creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft journalism and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature and environment design, which lend themselves to con floor moments and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

From winter to holidays

January is stacked. 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 macro-brand pushes. The month caps 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 stiff, but the mix of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

February through May stage summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies 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 connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a early fall window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s virtual companion evolves into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 severe boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the chain of command tilts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

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 nightmare, based on Cronin’s hands-on craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting setup that mediates the fear via a youth’s flickering perspective. Rating: not yet rated. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-financed and name-above-title eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satirical comeback that riffs on contemporary horror memes and true crime fascinations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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: TBD. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing Get More Info materials. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new household lashed to older hauntings. Rating: to be announced. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. 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 antique diction and ancient menace. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026, why now

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, metered scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, providing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on 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 land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundscape, and camera work 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 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.