Mythic Dread rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A chilling otherworldly shockfest from cinematographer / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an mythic malevolence when foreigners become puppets in a demonic struggle. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful saga of resilience and prehistoric entity that will reimagine the horror genre this October. Realized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and shadowy film follows five young adults who emerge sealed in a wooded dwelling under the malignant will of Kyra, a possessed female possessed by a prehistoric religious nightmare. Arm yourself to be drawn in by a audio-visual ride that weaves together bodily fright with mythic lore, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reimagined when the entities no longer come from elsewhere, but rather inside their minds. This portrays the malevolent version of each of them. The result is a gripping mental war where the drama becomes a perpetual confrontation between righteousness and malevolence.


In a unforgiving forest, five adults find themselves trapped under the ominous presence and control of a secretive character. As the group becomes unable to combat her rule, marooned and stalked by entities beyond comprehension, they are made to stand before their soulful dreads while the time without pity pushes forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread surges and teams crack, compelling each participant to doubt their character and the nature of personal agency itself. The stakes climb with every fleeting time, delivering a frightening tale that weaves together unearthly horror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to extract raw dread, an threat rooted in antiquity, manifesting in mental cracks, and confronting a evil that questions who we are when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra asked for exploring something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the takeover begins, and that change is gut-wrenching because it is so private.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be released for digital release beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering users from coast to coast can witness this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original clip, which has pulled in over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, extending the thrill to international horror buffs.


Be sure to catch this life-altering ride through nightmares. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to see these fearful discoveries about the soul.


For sneak peeks, production news, and insider scoops from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit the official website.





Modern horror’s sea change: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule braids together primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, together with legacy-brand quakes

From survivor-centric dread infused with old testament echoes as well as returning series and surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be the richest paired with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios are anchoring the year with franchise anchors, at the same time streaming platforms saturate the fall with discovery plays and legend-coded dread. At the same time, indie storytellers is catching the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are targeted, thus 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

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

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, inside today’s landscape. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Guided by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer fades, the Warner Bros. banner delivers the closing chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, 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 arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Next comes Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. 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.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Signals and Trends

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

Body horror reemerges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new chiller season: follow-ups, Originals, alongside A Crowded Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek The upcoming scare slate packs immediately with a January crush, following that extends through summer corridors, and deep into the winter holidays, combining brand equity, inventive spins, and well-timed calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and shareable marketing that position genre releases into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has established itself as the surest play in release plans, a genre that can surge when it breaks through and still insulate the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year demonstrated to executives that efficiently budgeted shockers can galvanize pop culture, the following year held pace with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The tailwind moved into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and prestige plays made clear there is appetite for a variety of tones, from sequel tracks to original features that play globally. The net effect for 2026 is a roster that reads highly synchronized across studios, with strategic blocks, a mix of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a re-energized focus on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on premium digital rental and digital services.

Studio leaders note the genre now acts as a wildcard on the slate. Horror can debut on many corridors, generate a sharp concept for promo reels and TikTok spots, and outperform with moviegoers that arrive on early shows and return through the week two if the movie fires. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 rhythm exhibits belief in that playbook. The slate kicks off with a thick January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while carving room for a autumn stretch that connects to All Hallows period and into early November. The layout also includes the expanded integration of arthouse labels and streaming partners that can stage a platform run, ignite recommendations, and broaden at the precise moment.

Another broad trend is brand curation across brand ecosystems and storied titles. Big banners are not just pushing another next film. They are working to present continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that indicates a fresh attitude or a casting move that anchors a new installment to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the creative teams behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing material texture, real effects and location-forward worlds. That mix affords the 2026 slate a confident blend of trust and surprise, which is the formula for international play.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the heart, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a throwback-friendly strategy without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Expect a marketing push driven by classic imagery, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt mass reach through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever owns trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is efficient, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that shifts into a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to mirror off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that melds companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a public title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are presented as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives the studio room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has established that a tactile, practical-effects forward aesthetic can feel deluxe on a middle budget. Look for a splatter summer horror jolt that embraces global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio deploys two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, sustaining a dependable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is marketing as a new foundation 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 focus to serve both diehards and fresh viewers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build promo materials around mythos, and creature builds, elements that can boost premium format interest and convention buzz.

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 continues Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in minute detail and textual fidelity, this time set against lycan legends. The company has already locked the day for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is positive.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that maximizes both FOMO and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video balances library titles with cross-border buys and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using prominent placements, holiday hubs, and featured rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix originals and festival acquisitions, finalizing horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops debuts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a paired of limited theatrical footprints and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a situational basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to pick up select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 pipeline with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is no-nonsense: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, reimagined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the year-end corridor to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-first horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using small theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their audience.

Known brands versus new stories

By volume, 2026 tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap fan equity. The concern, as ever, is viewer burnout. The workable fix is to brand each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is bringing forward character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-accented approach from a new voice. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the package is anchored enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not foreclose a day-date move from winning when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror rose in large-format rooms. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they alter lens and scale the storytelling. 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 two-step approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to hold creative in the market without hiatuses.

How the look and feel evolve

The shop talk behind this year’s genre indicate a continued tilt toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in feature stories and technical spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and creates shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta refresh that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which are ideal for booth activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is full. great post to read 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 moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month finishes 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 serious, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited advance reveals that center concept over reveals.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can win the holiday when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits 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 virtual companion grows into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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 face a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 severe boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic swivels and paranoia spreads. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s in-camera craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that toys with the dread of a child’s uncertain perceptions. Rating: to be announced. Production: in the can. Positioning: major-studio and celebrity-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satirical comeback that teases present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family snared by past horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward classic survival-horror tone over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that slowed or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured 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 placements. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Calendar math also matters. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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 cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, 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, acoustics, and cinematography 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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, craft precise trailers, keep secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.