Primeval Dread Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, launching Oct 2025 on top streamers

An terrifying spiritual nightmare movie from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an age-old entity when unknowns become tools in a diabolical maze. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing journey of perseverance and forgotten curse that will revolutionize the fear genre this scare season. Produced by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and tone-heavy thriller follows five characters who suddenly rise imprisoned in a off-grid house under the malignant dominion of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a legendary biblical force. Anticipate to be enthralled by a narrative outing that unites raw fear with mythic lore, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a long-standing element in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reversed when the fiends no longer appear from a different plane, but rather from within. This portrays the haunting dimension of the cast. The result is a relentless cognitive warzone where the narrative becomes a unyielding conflict between virtue and vice.


In a isolated wild, five friends find themselves stuck under the evil influence and curse of a obscure female presence. As the companions becomes paralyzed to fight her manipulation, left alone and followed by forces mind-shattering, they are compelled to stand before their worst nightmares while the timeline without pause counts down toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust deepens and partnerships implode, compelling each member to reflect on their essence and the concept of volition itself. The threat mount with every passing moment, delivering a cinematic nightmare that integrates demonic fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to uncover primal fear, an darkness from ancient eras, influencing our weaknesses, and navigating a presence that redefines identity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra asked for exploring something beyond human emotion. She is insensitive until the takeover begins, and that shift is soul-crushing because it is so internal.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering watchers around the globe can survive this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original promo, which has earned over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, spreading the horror to a global viewership.


Don’t miss this bone-rattling trip into the unknown. Join *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to experience these evil-rooted truths about free will.


For film updates, director cuts, and press updates from inside the story, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit youngandcursed.com.





American horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 American release plan blends old-world possession, festival-born jolts, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

From survivor-centric dread drawn from biblical myth through to brand-name continuations alongside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated combined with blueprinted year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Major studios lock in tentpoles using marquee IP, while OTT services front-load the fall with emerging auteurs in concert with primordial unease. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the uplift from a record 2024 festival run. Since Halloween is the prized date, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are disciplined, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp sets the tone with an audacious swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Helmed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule delivers the closing chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: old school creep, trauma foregrounded, and eerie supernatural logic. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The new chapter enriches the lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, speaking to teens and older millennials. It opens in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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

Emerging Currents

Mythic horror goes mainstream
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 pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming spook Year Ahead: follow-ups, filmmaker-first projects, and also A packed Calendar calibrated for shocks

Dek The current scare cycle loads early with a January pile-up, following that flows through the warm months, and straight through the holidays, combining brand heft, novel approaches, and savvy calendar placement. Distributors with platforms are betting on cost discipline, theater-first strategies, and social-fueled campaigns that frame the slate’s entries into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This category has shown itself to be the dependable play in programming grids, a pillar that can scale when it connects and still hedge the liability when it falls short. After 2023 reconfirmed for decision-makers that lean-budget scare machines can own the national conversation, 2024 continued the surge with visionary-driven titles and sleeper breakouts. The momentum fed into 2025, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers underscored there is capacity for multiple flavors, from sequel tracks to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a roster that shows rare alignment across the industry, with obvious clusters, a equilibrium of known properties and fresh ideas, and a re-energized attention on release windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium video on demand and OTT platforms.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now slots in as a swing piece on the release plan. The genre can launch on virtually any date, deliver a tight logline for creative and shorts, and outpace with audiences that appear on advance nights and keep coming through the second frame if the picture works. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 cadence reflects belief in that logic. The year gets underway with a front-loaded January run, then exploits spring through early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a late-year stretch that reaches into the Halloween frame and past Halloween. The arrangement also includes the expanded integration of boutique distributors and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, spark evangelism, and move wide at the sweet spot.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and legacy IP. The studios are not just producing another follow-up. They are working to present threaded continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that announces a new vibe or a casting pivot that connects a latest entry to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the headline-grabbing originals are doubling down on practical craft, special makeup and specific settings. That combination offers the 2026 slate a lively combination of brand comfort and invention, which is why the genre exports well.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the focus, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a return-to-roots character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a memory-charged angle without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reignites 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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will spotlight. As a summer alternative, this one will drive four-quadrant chatter through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three specific plays. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is straightforward, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an digital partner that shifts into a dangerous lover. The date locates it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that interweaves affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a name unveil to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele projects are treated as marquee events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a gritty, makeup-driven strategy can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror charge that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is presenting as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both diehards and general audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around world-building, and practical creature work, elements that can boost premium screens and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by textural authenticity and archaic language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is favorable.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform windowing in 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a structure that boosts both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, October hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, locking in horror entries closer to launch and eventizing drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a paired of precision releases and prompt platform moves that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January his comment is here 23, 2026, before relying on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a selective basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to invest in select projects with name filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for platform stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor 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 setup is direct: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, upgraded for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, piloting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then pressing the December frame to widen. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception prompts. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using mini theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their audience.

Known brands versus new stories

By skew, the 2026 slate skews toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to position each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is known enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps clarify the logic. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not foreclose a simultaneous release test from paying off when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror hit big in premium formats. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they shift POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, lets marketing to cross-link entries through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without doldrums.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft conversations behind this slate hint at a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that emphasizes aura and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which align with booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

January is crowded. 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 quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring load in summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies 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-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited teasers that center concept over reveals.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s core. 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 loss-struck man’s digital partner mutates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot 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 collide with a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical 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 severe boss battle to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power reverses and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting narrative that manipulates the dread of a child’s shaky senses. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural 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 satire sequel that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 surges, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a unlucky family lashed to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and primal menace. Rating: pending. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will jostle across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 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. 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 journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, 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 condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, tight deployments, 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 detail, audio design, and image-making 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, Check This Out the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.