Primordial Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, launching October 2025 on top streamers

This spine-tingling paranormal fright fest from cinematographer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an long-buried entity when foreigners become subjects in a demonic conflict. Available on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing narrative of resilience and archaic horror that will reshape scare flicks this October. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and moody fearfest follows five unacquainted souls who awaken isolated in a hidden hideaway under the malevolent power of Kyra, a possessed female possessed by a biblical-era sacred-era entity. Be prepared to be ensnared by a theatrical adventure that unites deep-seated panic with ancestral stories, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a recurring pillar in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is flipped when the dark entities no longer descend outside the characters, but rather from within. This marks the darkest part of the players. The result is a psychologically brutal spiritual tug-of-war where the conflict becomes a ongoing confrontation between heaven and hell.


In a wilderness-stricken no-man's-land, five figures find themselves stuck under the malicious rule and spiritual invasion of a mysterious woman. As the group becomes helpless to fight her will, cut off and hunted by beings unfathomable, they are driven to battle their emotional phantoms while the final hour without pity draws closer toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear surges and friendships erode, requiring each survivor to scrutinize their being and the idea of conscious will itself. The cost climb with every fleeting time, delivering a paranormal ride that connects otherworldly panic with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to uncover deep fear, an evil from prehistory, channeling itself through psychological breaks, and highlighting a presence that redefines identity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra needed manifesting something far beyond human desperation. She is unaware until the evil takes hold, and that change is harrowing because it is so close.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring streamers from coast to coast can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first trailer, which has been viewed over 100K plays.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, spreading the horror to horror fans worldwide.


Be sure to catch this life-altering path of possession. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to experience these nightmarish insights about the mind.


For director insights, on-set glimpses, and announcements from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit the official movie site.





Modern horror’s watershed moment: 2025 in focus U.S. lineup melds myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, paired with franchise surges

Spanning life-or-death fear suffused with mythic scripture and including series comebacks together with acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted along with carefully orchestrated year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios hold down the year with known properties, in tandem platform operators flood the fall with emerging auteurs set against scriptural shivers. On the festival side, indie storytellers is fueled by the tailwinds from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween holding the peak, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, yet in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are targeted, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal fires the first shot with a risk-forward move: a refreshed Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a crisp modern milieu. Steered by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. set for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Under Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. unveils the final movement from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and those signature textures resurface: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The follow up digs further into canon, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, speaking to teens and older millennials. It drops in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Firsts: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, 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. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is destined for a fall landing.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No legacy baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror returns
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. 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 hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming scare Year Ahead: entries, filmmaker-first projects, And A hectic Calendar calibrated for screams

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle builds right away with a January wave, before it flows through the summer months, and running into the holidays, balancing brand heft, new concepts, and strategic release strategy. Major distributors and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and viral-minded pushes that transform the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has emerged as the steady tool in release plans, a category that can grow when it performs and still buffer the risk when it does not. After 2023 showed buyers that lean-budget genre plays can galvanize audience talk, the following year carried the beat with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The energy rolled into the 2025 frame, where returns and awards-minded projects proved there is an opening for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to filmmaker-driven originals that translate worldwide. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a slate that presents tight coordination across studios, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of marquee IP and original hooks, and a refocused priority on box-office windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and home streaming.

Planners observe the category now behaves like a versatile piece on the grid. The genre can premiere on numerous frames, generate a sharp concept for promo reels and reels, and punch above weight with moviegoers that respond on advance nights and stick through the week two if the movie hits. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping reflects comfort in that model. The calendar gets underway with a thick January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for balance, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that carries into the fright window and past the holiday. The gridline also reflects the expanded integration of specialized imprints and subscription services that can stage a platform run, spark evangelism, and widen at the proper time.

A companion trend is brand curation across interlocking continuities and established properties. Studio teams are not just releasing another sequel. They are aiming to frame connection with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that reconnects a next entry to a early run. At the very same time, the directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are prioritizing practical craft, practical effects and distinct locales. That interplay yields 2026 a smart balance of assurance and newness, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two centerpiece plays that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the front, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance indicates a legacy-leaning bent without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. Look for a marketing run anchored in heritage visuals, early character teases, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also resurrects 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will chase wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format fitting quick adjustments to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three discrete releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is efficient, heartbroken, and premise-first: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that shifts into a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to renew uncanny live moments and snackable content that interweaves intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are treated as marquee events, with a hinting teaser and a later trailer push that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, prosthetic-heavy treatment can feel big on a tight budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror surge that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, keeping a proven supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is positioning as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both longtime followers and fresh viewers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign pieces around world-building, and creature builds, elements that can boost premium screens and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror driven by minute detail and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is glowing.

Platform lanes and windowing

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films move to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a tiered path that optimizes both premiere heat and viewer acquisition in the tail. Prime Video combines third-party pickups with worldwide buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in deep cuts, using in-app campaigns, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to sustain interest on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries tight to release and making event-like releases with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a staged of focused cinema runs and prompt platform moves that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 pipeline with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is no-nonsense: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, updated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the September weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festival season if the cut is ready, then pressing the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has helped for craft-driven horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchises versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate favors the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The preferred tactic is to market each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount get redirected here is emphasizing core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-accented approach from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent comps frame the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not deter a day-date move from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they change perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to leave creative active without lulls.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind this slate forecast a continued bias toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that highlights unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature and environment design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is stacked. 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 tonal palate cleanser 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 real, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now can handle 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited teasers that elevate concept over story.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can extend 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 carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s digital partner mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top see here 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: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: tone-first game 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 difficult boss fight to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance turns and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting story that manipulates the fear of a child’s wobbly impressions. Rating: forthcoming. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-built and headline-actor led spirit-world 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 satire sequel that skewers current genre trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: pending. Production: shoot planned 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 bursts, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for pure survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 elemental fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian this content outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces define this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming landings. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest turnkey scare beats from test screenings, precision scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where 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 work those windows. 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, 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 ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, 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.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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, craft precise trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.