Ancient Darkness stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling thriller, streaming October 2025 on major streaming services

A eerie spiritual terror film from storyteller / director Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an mythic malevolence when unknowns become vehicles in a demonic maze. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing tale of staying alive and primeval wickedness that will revamp fear-driven cinema this ghoul season. Brought to life by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie suspense flick follows five people who awaken confined in a unreachable dwelling under the menacing command of Kyra, a mysterious girl haunted by a biblical-era sacred-era entity. Be prepared to be shaken by a visual spectacle that blends deep-seated panic with biblical origins, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a classic trope in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the presences no longer manifest from external sources, but rather from within. This mirrors the most terrifying part of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat mental war where the intensity becomes a unforgiving confrontation between right and wrong.


In a isolated wilderness, five friends find themselves isolated under the fiendish influence and grasp of a enigmatic apparition. As the youths becomes helpless to escape her will, exiled and hunted by creatures indescribable, they are obligated to encounter their darkest emotions while the final hour ruthlessly edges forward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension rises and links splinter, demanding each character to doubt their being and the notion of personal agency itself. The threat grow with every breath, delivering a horror experience that blends supernatural terror with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dive into ancestral fear, an force older than civilization itself, emerging via emotional vulnerability, and questioning a will that forces self-examination when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra needed manifesting something darker than pain. She is blind until the invasion happens, and that evolution is haunting because it is so raw.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering households everywhere can witness this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first preview, which has gathered over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Don’t miss this cinematic voyage through terror. Watch *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to explore these ghostly lessons about mankind.


For cast commentary, special features, and press updates from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie portal.





The horror genre’s watershed moment: the 2025 season domestic schedule melds old-world possession, signature indie scares, set against legacy-brand quakes

From grit-forward survival fare drawn from scriptural legend and including IP renewals in concert with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the most dimensioned together with calculated campaign year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. leading studios plant stakes across the year via recognizable brands, as OTT services crowd the fall with new perspectives and scriptural shivers. At the same time, festival-forward creators is propelled by the afterglow from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, though in this cycle, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are targeted, accordingly 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: The Return of Prestige Fear

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule kicks off the frame with a statement play: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in an immediate now. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. dated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Helmed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner lot sets loose the finale from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re boards, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retro dread, trauma as text, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time the stakes climb, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It posts in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga with Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: 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. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No IP hangover. 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 Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

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 bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, 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.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. 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 next fear release year: Sequels, Originals, in tandem with A busy Calendar calibrated for Scares

Dek: The new scare slate crowds right away with a January wave, after that spreads through the warm months, and well into the December corridor, blending legacy muscle, new voices, and shrewd calendar placement. The major players are focusing on lean spends, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that position genre releases into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has solidified as the most reliable counterweight in distribution calendars, a pillar that can accelerate when it lands and still buffer the risk when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year signaled to studio brass that lean-budget entries can lead mainstream conversation, 2024 maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The energy extended into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is space for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to one-and-done originals that scale internationally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a schedule that appears tightly organized across studios, with intentional bunching, a pairing of household franchises and new pitches, and a revived attention on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and streaming.

Insiders argue the horror lane now acts as a fill-in ace on the slate. Horror can bow on numerous frames, generate a sharp concept for ad units and TikTok spots, and overperform with moviegoers that line up on Thursday previews and sustain through the follow-up frame if the title pays off. On the heels of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 cadence demonstrates trust in that setup. The calendar kicks off with a thick January corridor, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while leaving room for a fall corridor that stretches into All Hallows period and into post-Halloween. The calendar also shows the expanded integration of arthouse labels and streamers that can build gradually, generate chatter, and grow at the strategic time.

An added macro current is series management across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. Major shops are not just producing another entry. They are seeking to position ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a title design that flags a refreshed voice or a casting choice that reconnects a incoming chapter to a early run. At the parallel to that, the directors behind the high-profile originals are returning to in-camera technique, physical gags and distinct locales. That mix offers the 2026 slate a confident blend of assurance and shock, which is why the genre exports well.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two centerpiece bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, steering it as both a relay and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture signals a memory-charged treatment without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Plan for a rollout driven by recognizable motifs, intro reveals, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will go after wide appeal through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever shapes genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three distinct pushes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is clean, sorrow-tinged, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that shifts into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s marketing likely to bring back viral uncanny stunts and short-cut promos that interlaces longing and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a name unveil to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are positioned as event films, with a teaser that holds back and a second trailer wave that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The spooky-season slot offers Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has shown that a raw, practical-effects forward aesthetic can feel cinematic on a controlled budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror shot that leans into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio deploys two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, sustaining a steady supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is positioning as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both loyalists and new audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build artifacts around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror defined by meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. The imprint has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is strong.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles window into copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a tiered path that optimizes both initial urgency and platform bumps in the downstream. Prime Video pairs licensed films with world buys and limited cinema engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog discovery, using seasonal hubs, fright rows, and editorial rows to increase tail value on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about own-slate titles and festival buys, slotting horror entries near their drops and positioning as event drops drops with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a staged of selective theatrical runs and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a situational basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 corridor with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is uncomplicated: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, refined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the September weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, shepherding the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to increase reach. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception prompts. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By skew, 2026 bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use marquee value. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to present each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the packaging is grounded enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date try from paying off when the brand was powerful. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they angle differently and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter movies plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to link the films through protagonists and motifs and to hold creative in the market without pause points.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind the 2026 slate signal a continued preference for real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster aesthetics and world-building, which lend themselves to con floor moments and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel must-have. Look for trailers that underscore precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that explode in larger rooms.

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 gloomy counterbalance amid heavier IP. The month ends 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 legit, but the variety of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

End of summer through fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited teasers that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can win the holiday when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s virtual companion grows into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 tough boss fight to survive on a desolate island as the power balance of power swivels and dread encroaches. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fear, shaped by Cronin’s practical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting chiller that routes the horror through a youth’s flickering subjective lens. Rating: TBD. Production: completed. Positioning: major-studio and celebrity-led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: production 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: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new clan tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: not yet rated. Production: underway. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and raw menace. Rating: TBD. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or rearranged in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, creating valuable space for genre entries that can capture a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to 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. Anticipate a robust 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers this page Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, soundscape, and picture 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 Promising 2026

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.