Ancient Dread Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled horror feature, launching October 2025 across premium platforms

A hair-raising supernatural horror tale from screenwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an forgotten force when passersby become pawns in a fiendish ceremony. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing saga of overcoming and primeval wickedness that will reshape fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Helmed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and shadowy film follows five people who awaken isolated in a isolated shelter under the malevolent grip of Kyra, a haunted figure possessed by a 2,000-year-old biblical force. Be prepared to be ensnared by a theatrical ride that fuses soul-chilling terror with legendary tales, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a legendary concept in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is subverted when the beings no longer originate from external sources, but rather from their core. This marks the most sinister corner of each of them. The result is a intense inner struggle where the tension becomes a brutal fight between virtue and vice.


In a haunting natural abyss, five friends find themselves cornered under the unholy presence and grasp of a obscure figure. As the cast becomes defenseless to oppose her command, isolated and preyed upon by presences inconceivable, they are made to deal with their greatest panics while the doomsday meter coldly counts down toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread escalates and bonds dissolve, coercing each survivor to contemplate their values and the nature of self-determination itself. The hazard intensify with every instant, delivering a nightmarish journey that weaves together demonic fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to uncover basic terror, an entity older than civilization itself, manifesting in emotional vulnerability, and confronting a will that redefines identity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant evoking something beneath mortal despair. She is in denial until the spirit seizes her, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure users internationally can witness this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has pulled in over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, taking the terror to a global viewership.


Tune in for this visceral voyage through terror. Face *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to see these nightmarish insights about our species.


For exclusive trailers, set experiences, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across fan hubs and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror tipping point: the 2025 cycle U.S. lineup braids together myth-forward possession, Indie Shockers, stacked beside brand-name tremors

Kicking off with last-stand terror infused with old testament echoes all the way to installment follow-ups set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 is lining up as the most textured together with deliberate year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors plant stakes across the year by way of signature titles, even as premium streamers front-load the fall with discovery plays and scriptural shivers. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is drafting behind the backdraft from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are precise, which means 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s distribution arm kicks off the frame with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Led by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

At summer’s close, the Warner lot launches the swan song of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma as theme, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, bridging teens and legacy players. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided 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 should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

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

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Heritage Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, under Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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

Trends to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror swings back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated 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 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The next scare Year Ahead: entries, fresh concepts, And A stacked Calendar Built For chills

Dek: The arriving horror slate lines up from the jump with a January logjam, and then flows through the summer months, and well into the holiday frame, balancing IP strength, creative pitches, and savvy offsets. Major distributors and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-fueled campaigns that turn genre releases into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has solidified as the consistent tool in studio calendars, a corner that can accelerate when it clicks and still insulate the risk when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that cost-conscious horror vehicles can drive the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The upswing pushed into the 2025 frame, where returns and festival-grade titles confirmed there is capacity for varied styles, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The sum for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across players, with strategic blocks, a pairing of known properties and first-time concepts, and a renewed focus on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and subscription services.

Distribution heads claim the category now acts as a flex slot on the grid. The genre can debut on nearly any frame, generate a grabby hook for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with crowds that respond on opening previews and hold through the subsequent weekend if the film pays off. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup telegraphs certainty in that engine. The year gets underway with a thick January run, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while leaving room for a September to October window that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and afterwards. The program also underscores the deeper integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and widen at the optimal moment.

A parallel macro theme is IP stewardship across unified worlds and long-running brands. The companies are not just turning out another sequel. They are setting up continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a fresh attitude or a casting choice that reconnects a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the simultaneously, the creative teams behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into real-world builds, physical gags and concrete locations. That convergence yields 2026 a confident blend of recognition and invention, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee pushes that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character-centered film. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach announces a throwback-friendly treatment without looping the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout rooted in signature symbols, first-look character reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a summer alternative, this one will chase large awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format supporting quick updates to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three discrete releases. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is elegant, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an virtual partner that turns into a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo uncanny-valley stunts and micro spots that threads attachment and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places 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 posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled have a peek at these guys Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His entries are set up as event films, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway opens a lane to maximize 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, makeup-driven style can feel premium on a mid-range budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is positioning as a reset 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 core fans and new audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around universe detail, and monster design, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror built on meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that expands both launch urgency and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video combines catalogue additions with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using in-app campaigns, genre hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival buys, securing horror entries closer to drop and positioning as event drops rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to secure select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 pipeline with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, recalibrated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday frame to widen. 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 generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception justifies. Expect 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 as partners, using targeted theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their membership.

Brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to brand each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to drive advance ticketing and early previews.

Three-year comps frame the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not preclude a dual release from delivering when the brand was compelling. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they rotate perspective and widen scale. 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 produced back-to-back, enables marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without dead zones.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind these films signal a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in trade spotlights and technical spotlights before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster work and world-building, which align with convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel key. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. 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 brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tone spread affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

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

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

Project briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s synthetic partner unfolds into something deadly 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: mood-led 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 lonely island as the power balance turns and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: marquee survival piece 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 renewed vision that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. click site Logline: {A in-home haunting setup that routes the horror through a youngster’s volatile subjective lens. Rating: TBD. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal 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 genre lampoon that lampoons current genre trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: production booked for 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 detonates, with an international 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: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three workable forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or reshuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical 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 drops. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, 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 fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lower and 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, audio design, and 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 Looks Exciting

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.