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

A chilling otherworldly suspense film from storyteller / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primeval curse when unrelated individuals become tokens in a supernatural conflict. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful saga of staying alive and ancient evil that will revamp the horror genre this scare season. Crafted by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and immersive suspense flick follows five individuals who are stirred confined in a wooded dwelling under the ominous power of Kyra, a central character dominated by a millennia-old biblical force. Arm yourself to be ensnared by a filmic experience that weaves together deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a historical motif in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is reimagined when the forces no longer emerge from external sources, but rather from their core. This portrays the grimmest aspect of the group. The result is a intense mind game where the narrative becomes a unforgiving face-off between righteousness and malevolence.


In a bleak outland, five friends find themselves confined under the evil force and spiritual invasion of a mysterious character. As the survivors becomes unable to deny her grasp, severed and followed by evils beyond comprehension, they are thrust to face their deepest fears while the clock without pause strikes toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread grows and ties splinter, forcing each survivor to reflect on their existence and the idea of self-determination itself. The stakes climb with every short lapse, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that blends otherworldly suspense with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to uncover elemental fright, an curse that existed before mankind, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and challenging a darkness that strips down our being when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant evoking something deeper than fear. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that turn is bone-chilling because it is so unshielded.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering streamers from coast to coast can enjoy this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first preview, which has earned over massive response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, making the film to international horror buffs.


Do not miss this unforgettable trip into the unknown. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to experience these fearful discoveries about free will.


For featurettes, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official movie site.





Contemporary horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season U.S. Slate interlaces primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, alongside Franchise Rumbles

Running from pressure-cooker survival tales infused with legendary theology through to canon extensions as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 is emerging as the richest along with deliberate year for the modern era.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Top studios hold down the year with established lines, at the same time OTT services front-load the fall with debut heat alongside mythic dread. On another front, the independent cohort is fueled by the carry from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween stays the prime week, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, notably this year, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are methodical, thus 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline fires the first shot with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Booked into mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

At summer’s close, Warner’s slate drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, builds out the animatronic fear crew, reaching teens and game grownups. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is canny scheduling. No swollen lore. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, with Francis Lawrence directing, 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.

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 currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror retakes ground
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming chiller slate: installments, original films, And A Crowded Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek The incoming horror year lines up from the jump with a January bottleneck, and then carries through the summer months, and continuing into the holidays, fusing legacy muscle, untold stories, and tactical release strategy. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on tight budgets, big-screen-first runs, and buzz-forward plans that convert genre releases into national conversation.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror sector has grown into the sturdy swing in studio calendars, a corner that can grow when it connects and still safeguard the exposure when it misses. After 2023 reconfirmed for executives that responsibly budgeted scare machines can drive audience talk, 2024 sustained momentum with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The momentum flowed into 2025, where legacy revivals and critical darlings underscored there is capacity for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that translate worldwide. The result for the 2026 slate is a schedule that presents tight coordination across players, with clear date clusters, a mix of recognizable IP and novel angles, and a recommitted commitment on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and home platforms.

Planners observe the space now performs as a wildcard on the release plan. Horror can arrive on many corridors, furnish a grabby hook for teasers and shorts, and lead with audiences that show up on advance nights and continue through the follow-up frame if the picture works. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm indicates assurance in that dynamic. The year commences with a heavy January schedule, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while reserving space for a fall run that flows toward spooky season and beyond. The map also includes the deeper integration of indie distributors and platforms that can grow from platform, stoke social talk, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Studios are not just producing another sequel. They are shaping as brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a reframed mood or a casting choice that threads a new entry to a early run. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, practical effects and vivid settings. That fusion provides the 2026 slate a strong blend of recognition and shock, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two centerpiece releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, positioning the film as both a handoff and a rootsy character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative posture hints at see here a heritage-honoring approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push rooted in legacy iconography, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via 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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a summer relief option, this one will chase large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever owns trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that shifts into a lethal partner. The date locates it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to reprise uncanny-valley stunts and bite-size content that interweaves longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the early tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are branded as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a follow-up trailer set that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to command 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, makeup-driven execution can feel premium on a lean spend. Position this as a hard-R summer horror blast that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is presenting as a fresh restart 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 charge to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around mythos, and creature work, elements that can boost PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places 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 built on obsessive craft and historical speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal titles flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that optimizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together catalogue additions with global originals and limited runs in theaters when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to prolong the run on the annual genre haul. Netflix retains agility about internal projects and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a discrete basis. The platform has been willing to take on select projects with prestige directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is uncomplicated: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, upgraded for modern sonics and picture. 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 telegraphed a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using precision theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is fatigue. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French sensibility from a fresh helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous 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 known brand, the cast-creatives package is steady enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that observed windows did not obstruct a dual release from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market 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 moves forward 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, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to hold creative in the market without long breaks.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which match well with expo activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited information drops that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and card redemption.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner turns into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

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 encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the chain of command upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting chiller that twists the dread of a child’s tricky impressions. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-scale and toplined haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A send-up revival that satirizes present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 spreads, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a fresh family entangled with past horrors. Rating: pending. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: to be announced. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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

Why the 2026 timing works

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that decelerated or migrated in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter timelines. 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming launches. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine shareable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 sleeper-hit hunt 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, aural design, and visual design 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, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, filmmaker 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.