Antediluvian Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 across top digital platforms

One haunting metaphysical fright fest from writer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an timeless curse when passersby become conduits in a cursed contest. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping portrayal of living through and prehistoric entity that will redefine the fear genre this Halloween season. Crafted by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and claustrophobic cinema piece follows five young adults who regain consciousness stuck in a far-off dwelling under the oppressive will of Kyra, a haunted figure occupied by a timeless sacred-era entity. Be prepared to be captivated by a theatrical ride that combines deep-seated panic with ancient myths, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a mainstay concept in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is reversed when the fiends no longer form from a different plane, but rather inside them. This represents the most sinister corner of the protagonists. The result is a relentless mental war where the plotline becomes a unforgiving struggle between right and wrong.


In a abandoned no-man's-land, five figures find themselves contained under the sinister dominion and control of a haunted being. As the team becomes unable to break her grasp, cut off and followed by powers ungraspable, they are pushed to confront their deepest fears while the clock coldly runs out toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion grows and links dissolve, compelling each survivor to contemplate their personhood and the principle of self-determination itself. The stakes magnify with every heartbeat, delivering a frightening tale that merges mystical fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to uncover elemental fright, an darkness rooted in antiquity, channeling itself through emotional vulnerability, and navigating a power that dismantles free will when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra demanded embodying something darker than pain. She is unaware until the control shifts, and that change is bone-chilling because it is so private.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure households everywhere can witness this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first preview, which has earned over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, giving access to the movie to thrill-seekers globally.


Be sure to catch this visceral fall into madness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to uncover these evil-rooted truths about the mind.


For featurettes, production news, and reveals from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across entertainment pages and visit the official digital haunt.





The horror genre’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 cycle U.S. lineup Mixes legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, alongside IP aftershocks

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror saturated with mythic scripture all the way to brand-name continuations paired with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 appears poised to be the richest and deliberate year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors lock in tentpoles using marquee IP, in tandem digital services pack the fall with new voices together with ancestral chills. In parallel, the independent cohort is propelled by the afterglow from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween stays the prime week, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are precise, thus 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal Pictures leads off the quarter with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, instead in a current-day frame. Guided by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. dated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Under Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early reactions hint at fangs.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule launches the swan song from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: period tinged dread, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Penned and steered 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. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No heavy handed lore. No canon weight. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

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. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, steered by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror resurges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Laurels convert to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forward View: Fall saturation and a winter joker

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

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

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The coming 2026 spook season: installments, Originals, alongside A stacked Calendar designed for shocks

Dek: The incoming terror year packs from day one with a January logjam, after that runs through the mid-year, and continuing into the holiday stretch, blending brand equity, original angles, and strategic counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are doubling down on lean spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that frame these releases into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror has established itself as the bankable tool in studio lineups, a corner that can lift when it lands and still limit the losses when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year showed strategy teams that lean-budget horror vehicles can galvanize cultural conversation, 2024 kept energy high with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The head of steam translated to 2025, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries showed there is an opening for a spectrum, from returning installments to standalone ideas that export nicely. The result for 2026 is a grid that is strikingly coherent across studios, with clear date clusters, a pairing of marquee IP and fresh ideas, and a revived focus on cinema windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium rental and home streaming.

Marketers add the space now functions as a schedule utility on the programming map. The genre can debut on most weekends, provide a easy sell for creative and platform-native cuts, and lead with fans that arrive on Thursday previews and keep coming through the second weekend if the title satisfies. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 layout exhibits certainty in that playbook. The year kicks off with a weighty January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a fall cadence that connects to the Halloween frame and afterwards. The schedule also reflects the ongoing integration of indie arms and platforms that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and grow at the proper time.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across interlocking continuities and classic IP. Studios are not just rolling another installment. They are setting up brand continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a re-angled tone or a ensemble decision that binds a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the marquee originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That fusion hands 2026 a lively combination of known notes and surprise, which is how the films export.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount plants an early flag with two headline entries that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character-first story. Production is active in Atlanta, and the artistic posture indicates a memory-charged approach without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run stacked with signature symbols, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will generate wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever leads the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tight, sorrow-tinged, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an machine companion that mutates into a killer see here companion. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with Universal’s team likely to recreate creepy live activations and micro spots that blurs intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates 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 dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a public title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are marketed as auteur events, with a minimalist tease and a second beat that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The spooky-season slot allows Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a visceral, on-set effects led method can feel premium on a lean spend. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart 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 directive to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around mythos, and creature work, elements that can boost large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by rigorous craft and language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform windowing in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that fortifies both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video will mix third-party pickups with cross-border buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in archive usage, using curated hubs, October hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival additions, timing horror entries near launch and making event-like drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for sustained usage when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 track with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is tight: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the December frame to widen. That positioning has proved effective for arthouse horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By number, the 2026 slate favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate household recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The near-term solution is to brand each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is bringing forward character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-flavored turn from a new voice. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is steady enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years help explain the method. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not deter a dual release from succeeding when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in large-format rooms. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot back-to-back, lets marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without dead zones.

Production craft signals

The craft rooms behind the 2026 slate point to a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that elevates aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which are ideal for convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel definitive. Look for trailers that underscore pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that benefit on big speakers.

From winter to holidays

January is loaded. 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 atmospheric change-up amid larger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring stage summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card use.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 severe boss push to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance of power upends and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to nightmare, built on Cronin’s in-camera craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting tale that plays with the fright of a child’s inconsistent impressions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. 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 participating creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that lampoons today’s horror trends and true crime fervors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing scheduled 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 flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing 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: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family lashed to lingering terrors. Rating: TBD. 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: forthcoming. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-first horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving forward. 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 era-accurate language and primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces frame this lineup. First, production that eased or reshuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on shareable moments from test screenings, select scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Calendar math also matters. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will stack across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 low-to-mid 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is name recognition where it counts, original vision 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.