Age-old Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

An blood-curdling spectral suspense film from storyteller / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an timeless dread when passersby become tokens in a dark trial. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing chronicle of struggle and age-old darkness that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Crafted by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and atmospheric tale follows five unknowns who emerge imprisoned in a hidden house under the oppressive grip of Kyra, a mysterious girl controlled by a biblical-era holy text monster. Ready yourself to be enthralled by a audio-visual event that integrates bone-deep fear with arcane tradition, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a enduring foundation in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is radically shifted when the fiends no longer appear outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This illustrates the most hidden shade of each of them. The result is a harrowing spiritual tug-of-war where the suspense becomes a unyielding battle between righteousness and malevolence.


In a bleak outland, five campers find themselves stuck under the malevolent effect and infestation of a obscure female figure. As the victims becomes unresisting to escape her control, disconnected and tormented by forces mind-shattering, they are pushed to deal with their core terrors while the final hour brutally ticks onward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease swells and relationships crack, prompting each figure to evaluate their identity and the foundation of personal agency itself. The risk mount with every second, delivering a fear-soaked story that integrates supernatural terror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dive into raw dread, an malevolence from ancient eras, influencing fragile psyche, and wrestling with a being that erodes the self when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra needed manifesting something beyond human emotion. She is ignorant until the curse activates, and that transformation is bone-chilling because it is so close.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that households internationally can enjoy this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its release of trailer #1, which has seen over strong viewer count.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, delivering the story to thrill-seekers globally.


Be sure to catch this haunted ride through nightmares. Stream *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to uncover these fearful discoveries about human nature.


For cast commentary, special features, and promotions from the story's source, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official website.





Current horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate braids together archetypal-possession themes, signature indie scares, alongside returning-series thunder

Ranging from endurance-driven terror infused with biblical myth through to brand-name continuations as well as sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned together with calculated campaign year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios plant stakes across the year by way of signature titles, at the same time streaming platforms pack the fall with discovery plays as well as old-world menace. Meanwhile, indie storytellers is riding the uplift of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A fat September–October lane is customary now, however this time, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are calculated, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium dread reemerges

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer fades, the WB camp releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: 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 goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. The ante is higher this round, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a 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, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror chamber piece pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga featuring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to 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.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a calculated bet. No heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

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’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Brands: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

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

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and 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. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming chiller slate: brand plays, original films, together with A packed Calendar aimed at chills

Dek The incoming terror slate crams early with a January cluster, following that unfolds through summer corridors, and far into the December corridor, blending IP strength, untold stories, and savvy counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing tight budgets, theater-first strategies, and buzz-forward plans that position these pictures into mainstream chatter.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has solidified as the consistent option in annual schedules, a corner that can surge when it performs and still cushion the losses when it under-delivers. After 2023 reminded executives that modestly budgeted chillers can command cultural conversation, the following year kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and under-the-radar smashes. The carry fed into 2025, where reawakened brands and critical darlings proved there is room for varied styles, from returning installments to non-IP projects that export nicely. The result for 2026 is a lineup that shows rare alignment across distributors, with intentional bunching, a combination of recognizable IP and new packages, and a re-energized stance on release windows that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and streaming.

Studio leaders note the space now works like a flex slot on the schedule. Horror can launch on open real estate, furnish a clear pitch for ad units and reels, and over-index with patrons that show up on opening previews and keep coming through the next pass if the film satisfies. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence demonstrates confidence in that model. The calendar launches with a loaded January lineup, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a October build that flows toward the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The program also illustrates the increasing integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and move wide at the strategic time.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across unified worlds and long-running brands. The companies are not just turning out another follow-up. They are working to present connection with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that binds a next entry to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating physical effects work, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That convergence gives 2026 a lively combination of known notes and invention, which is how the films export.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-centered film. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a fan-service aware treatment without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Count on a promo wave driven by heritage visuals, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three clear strategies. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is elegant, somber, and high-concept: a grieving man sets up an virtual partner that shifts into a murderous partner. The date sets it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to replay eerie street stunts and micro spots that threads longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s work are positioned as filmmaker events, with a minimalist tease and a next wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date affords Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, prosthetic-heavy style can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around world-building, and monster design, elements that can lift large-format demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and archaic language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. The studio’s horror films feed copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ordering that fortifies both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival pickups, finalizing horror entries near launch and framing as events rollouts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clean: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has delivered for director-led genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception encourages. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight great post to read slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By skew, 2026 leans in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on franchise value. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The pragmatic answer is to package each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the deal build is grounded enough to drive advance ticketing and early previews.

Three-year comps contextualize the method. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not foreclose a parallel release from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they angle differently and raise the stakes. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, creates space for marketing to interlace chapters through character and theme and to keep materials circulating without dead zones.

Craft and creative trends

The craft rooms behind the 2026 entries forecast a continued shift toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that emphasizes tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a first look that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta reframe that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature design and production design, which play well in booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that center surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that play in premium auditoriums.

From winter to holidays

January is full. Universal’s 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 moody palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a early fall window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to 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 heartbroken man’s machine mate escalates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: aura-driven 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 unyielding boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the hierarchy swivels and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to menace, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting chiller that refracts terror through a kid’s unreliable personal vantage. Rating: rating pending. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody return that needles hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 erupts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a young family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward classic survival-horror tone over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

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

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-specific language and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three grounded forces drive this lineup. First, production that slowed or migrated in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will trade weekends across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 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 stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sonics, 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, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.