Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites primeval horror, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

One hair-raising mystic fright fest from scriptwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an prehistoric fear when drifters become subjects in a diabolical maze. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching story of perseverance and forgotten curse that will transform fear-driven cinema this Halloween season. Created by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and moody film follows five strangers who suddenly rise isolated in a hidden structure under the oppressive control of Kyra, a female lead occupied by a time-worn ancient fiend. Brace yourself to be immersed by a cinematic venture that unites intense horror with legendary tales, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a long-standing element in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is reimagined when the fiends no longer form from beyond, but rather from within. This illustrates the darkest dimension of the players. The result is a gripping psychological battle where the suspense becomes a ongoing push-pull between innocence and sin.


In a haunting wild, five souls find themselves contained under the sinister control and inhabitation of a haunted female presence. As the team becomes defenseless to resist her grasp, marooned and tracked by powers unnamable, they are made to reckon with their raw vulnerabilities while the final hour ruthlessly ticks onward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust builds and links shatter, demanding each individual to reconsider their core and the nature of freedom of choice itself. The threat mount with every short lapse, delivering a paranormal ride that connects spiritual fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to tap into elemental fright, an evil older than civilization itself, filtering through our fears, and exposing a evil that dismantles free will when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was about accessing something past sanity. She is oblivious until the possession kicks in, and that turn is eerie because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be released for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that watchers globally can survive this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first preview, which has earned over 100,000 views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, taking the terror to global fright lovers.


Make sure to see this bone-rattling fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to witness these dark realities about our species.


For teasers, production news, and alerts directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. lineup integrates archetypal-possession themes, art-house nightmares, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Beginning with grit-forward survival fare suffused with ancient scripture through to series comebacks as well as surgical indie voices, 2025 looks like the most variegated and carefully orchestrated year since the mid-2010s.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Major studios plant stakes across the year via recognizable brands, concurrently streaming platforms crowd the fall with emerging auteurs as well as scriptural shivers. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is catching the tailwinds from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, which means 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 accelerates.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a marquee bet: a refashioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Steered by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson resumes command, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma centered writing, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. Here the stakes rise, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, speaking to teens and older millennials. It bows in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

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 does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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 clever angle. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
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 Makes a Comeback
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

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

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The approaching terror calendar year ahead: continuations, non-franchise titles, alongside A stacked Calendar designed for screams

Dek: The current genre year loads up front with a January bottleneck, from there stretches through the summer months, and deep into the December corridor, balancing IP strength, fresh ideas, and tactical offsets. Studio marketers and platforms are relying on mid-range economics, cinema-first plans, and viral-minded pushes that shape genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The field has shown itself to be the steady tool in studio calendars, a lane that can scale when it hits and still limit the risk when it fails to connect. After 2023 re-taught decision-makers that disciplined-budget horror vehicles can galvanize audience talk, the following year extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The trend fed into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and prestige plays signaled there is a lane for varied styles, from legacy continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a lineup that seems notably aligned across the field, with obvious clusters, a mix of established brands and first-time concepts, and a renewed strategy on box-office windows that feed downstream value on PVOD and home streaming.

Executives say the space now behaves like a versatile piece on the rollout map. Horror can premiere on many corridors, deliver a clean hook for creative and TikTok spots, and exceed norms with moviegoers that show up on Thursday previews and sustain through the subsequent weekend if the picture hits. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 pattern reflects conviction in that model. The calendar gets underway with a heavy January band, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a October build that carries into All Hallows period and afterwards. The grid also highlights the increasing integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can develop over weeks, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across brand ecosystems and storied titles. The players are not just making another next film. They are seeking to position ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a talent selection that threads a new entry to a heyday. At the simultaneously, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are prioritizing real-world builds, in-camera effects and concrete locations. That blend offers the 2026 slate a smart balance of assurance and freshness, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, setting it up as both a passing of the torch and a DNA-forward character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a roots-evoking angle without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push centered on franchise iconography, early character teases, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a summer alternative, this one will chase wide appeal through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format making room for quick redirects to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three discrete bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tight, sorrow-tinged, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an algorithmic mate that turns into a killer companion. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with Universal’s promo team likely to iterate on odd public stunts and short reels that blurs love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a branding reveal to become an headline beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His projects are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date offers Universal room to own 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, prosthetic-heavy method can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Look for a splatter summer horror jolt that pushes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is calling a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build promo materials around canon, and creature design, elements that can drive PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes 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 rooted in meticulous craft and period speech, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that enhances both FOMO and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with global acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to lengthen the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about originals and festival wins, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of precision theatrical plays and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will count 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+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track 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 pitch is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, updated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the back half.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. 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 fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is elevating character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-accented approach from a fresh helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the deal build is steady enough to generate pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years help explain the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not deter a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was strong. In 2024, precision craft horror popped in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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, lets marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind these films foreshadow a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that highlights unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft profiles and technical spotlights before rolling out a first look that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature work and production design, which favor con floor moments and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

Release calendar overview

January is packed. 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 moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Post-January through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a late-September window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures Source October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and card redemption.

Project briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s synthetic partner mutates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 prickly boss push to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance of power swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to dread, based on Cronin’s practical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting chiller that filters its scares through a little one’s shifting subjective view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A spoof revival that teases contemporary horror memes and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 ignites, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new clan caught in older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in pure survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 era-accurate language and ancient menace. Rating: to be announced. 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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why this year, why now

Three execution-level forces define this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 dumps. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will cluster across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 pattern and spread. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, optimized footprints, 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, aural design, and image-making 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand heft where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.