Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a fear soaked shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across major platforms

This chilling ghostly fright fest from dramatist / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an archaic horror when drifters become pawns in a malevolent trial. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of living through and archaic horror that will resculpt scare flicks this October. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and gothic tale follows five unknowns who awaken caught in a secluded hideaway under the dark power of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a antiquated sacrosanct terror. Arm yourself to be captivated by a screen-based outing that integrates soul-chilling terror with arcane tradition, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a historical foundation in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is redefined when the beings no longer originate outside the characters, but rather through their own souls. This portrays the most sinister dimension of the players. The result is a riveting internal warfare where the plotline becomes a merciless clash between righteousness and malevolence.


In a desolate woodland, five individuals find themselves isolated under the ghastly effect and infestation of a haunted figure. As the team becomes defenseless to combat her manipulation, severed and stalked by unknowns beyond reason, they are cornered to battle their raw vulnerabilities while the countdown mercilessly strikes toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion escalates and friendships implode, driving each member to evaluate their essence and the structure of self-determination itself. The consequences grow with every fleeting time, delivering a horror experience that merges mystical fear with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to explore core terror, an curse that existed before mankind, feeding on emotional fractures, and highlighting a power that dismantles free will when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra was centered on something rooted in terror. She is ignorant until the possession kicks in, and that conversion is haunting because it is so internal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing watchers around the globe can watch this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its release of trailer #1, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to global fright lovers.


Do not miss this cinematic voyage through terror. Stream *Young & Cursed* this launch day to explore these fearful discoveries about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, production news, and social posts from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 across markets American release plan Mixes archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, plus franchise surges

Beginning with fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with old testament echoes and stretching into canon extensions paired with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted as well as blueprinted year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Major studios plant stakes across the year via recognizable brands, while premium streamers flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs set against primordial unease. On the festival side, independent banners is surfing the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, however this time, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are calculated, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

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

Universal’s schedule fires the first shot with a risk-forward move: a modernized Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in an immediate now. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. timed for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

At summer’s close, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re boards, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, along with eerie supernatural rules. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The return delves further into myth, stretches the animatronic parade, courting teens and the thirty something base. It hits in December, securing the winter cap.

Digital Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga led by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are more runway than museum.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. 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 rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy IP: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, steered by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

Trend Lines

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The approaching chiller release year: follow-ups, fresh concepts, alongside A packed Calendar designed for chills

Dek: The emerging genre year lines up in short order with a January crush, then extends through summer, and pushing into the holiday stretch, marrying IP strength, new voices, and savvy counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are betting on lean spends, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that elevate these films into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has turned into the bankable move in release strategies, a pillar that can expand when it breaks through and still cushion the liability when it does not. After the 2023 year reassured buyers that low-to-mid budget genre plays can steer mainstream conversation, the following year carried the beat with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The upswing extended into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries confirmed there is a lane for diverse approaches, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that scale internationally. The sum for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across the major shops, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of brand names and new concepts, and a sharpened attention on box-office windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium on-demand and platforms.

Buyers contend the category now slots in as a flex slot on the release plan. The genre can kick off on open real estate, offer a tight logline for teasers and shorts, and outpace with ticket buyers that respond on advance nights and stick through the next pass if the title lands. Following a production delay era, the 2026 layout signals conviction in that dynamic. The calendar launches with a weighty January lineup, then targets spring into early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a fall cadence that extends to the Halloween frame and into November. The gridline also reflects the increasing integration of indie distributors and platforms that can nurture a platform play, grow buzz, and scale up at the sweet spot.

A further high-level trend is legacy care across unified worlds and established properties. Distribution groups are not just making another continuation. They are shaping as lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that suggests a reframed mood or a casting pivot that bridges a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the parallel to that, the creative teams behind the top original plays are championing material texture, makeup and prosthetics and location-forward worlds. That mix provides 2026 a solid mix of home base and novelty, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount leads early with two prominent titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the front, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the narrative stance hints at a classic-referencing strategy without covering again the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout built on brand visuals, first images of characters, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will go after broad awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever tops trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is clean, tragic, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an artificial companion that grows into a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the marketing arm likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that threads longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His projects are presented as auteur events, with a teaser that holds back and a later creative that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to own 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has proven that a gnarly, hands-on effects strategy can feel premium on a disciplined budget. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror surge that emphasizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is calling a reimagined 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 loyalists and fresh viewers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around world-building, and creature work, elements that can fuel premium format interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror defined by obsessive craft and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is positive.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. The studio’s horror films move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a tiered path that boosts both launch urgency and trial spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with world buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and curated rows to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival deals, locking in horror entries closer to launch and turning into events debuts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a hybrid of tailored theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has been willing to take on select projects with recognized filmmakers or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 sequence with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has helped for craft-driven horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to spark the evangelism that fuels their subs.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to present each entry as a new angle. Paramount is leading with character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. 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 marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the bundle is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps clarify the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not hamper a parallel release from paying off when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror over-performed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they alter lens and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs and to continue assets in field without hiatuses.

Production craft signals

The director conversations behind this year’s genre indicate a continued lean toward practical, location-rooted 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 finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that highlights aura and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has movies talked about Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and guild coverage before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and generates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which align with fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is packed. 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 quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month concludes 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 thick, but the mix of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring tee up summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to 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 jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can succeed 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 premium screens.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited pre-release reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card use.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s artificial companion escalates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss try to survive on a click to read more lonely island as the control balance flips 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to fright, grounded in Cronin’s in-camera craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting tale that explores the chill of a child’s shaky perceptions. Rating: TBD. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-scale and name-above-title paranormal suspense.

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 satirical comeback that lampoons current genre trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for 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 detonates, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan anchored to returning horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on pure survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: in progress. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 historical diction and raw menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 lands now

Three grounded forces define this lineup. First, production that slowed or shifted in horror 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter timelines. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, managed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will cluster across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, audio design, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shudders sell the seats.