Antediluvian Horror reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked chiller, launching October 2025 on major streaming services

One spine-tingling ghostly suspense film from writer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an prehistoric dread when guests become tools in a diabolical struggle. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching chronicle of continuance and forgotten curse that will alter genre cinema this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and atmospheric suspense flick follows five lost souls who are stirred ensnared in a hidden cabin under the malignant dominion of Kyra, a troubled woman possessed by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be ensnared by a visual presentation that merges bone-deep fear with folklore, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a historical trope in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is challenged when the fiends no longer appear outside the characters, but rather from deep inside. This mirrors the most primal aspect of all involved. The result is a gripping identity crisis where the plotline becomes a unforgiving battle between heaven and hell.


In a unforgiving forest, five adults find themselves confined under the possessive force and inhabitation of a enigmatic spirit. As the team becomes defenseless to evade her dominion, isolated and tormented by forces mind-shattering, they are driven to endure their soulful dreads while the final hour unceasingly edges forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and relationships crack, demanding each individual to examine their character and the idea of autonomy itself. The danger climb with every beat, delivering a paranormal ride that blends otherworldly panic with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon pure dread, an spirit beyond recorded history, filtering through mental cracks, and dealing with a presence that questions who we are when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra involved tapping into something far beyond human desperation. She is ignorant until the demon emerges, and that transformation is terrifying because it is so personal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for on-demand beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring fans from coast to coast can enjoy this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its initial teaser, which has earned over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, taking the terror to horror fans worldwide.


Mark your calendar for this heart-stopping voyage through terror. Experience *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to dive into these terrifying truths about existence.


For exclusive trailers, special features, and announcements from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across entertainment pages and visit the official movie site.





The horror genre’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 across markets domestic schedule weaves legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, plus tentpole growls

Running from life-or-death fear rooted in primordial scripture and extending to brand-name continuations alongside surgical indie voices, 2025 is emerging as horror’s most layered combined with calculated campaign year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. leading studios are anchoring the year using marquee IP, simultaneously SVOD players saturate the fall with new voices alongside scriptural shivers. Meanwhile, festival-forward creators is carried on the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, distinctly in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are exacting, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the base, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Steered by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. dated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. drops the final chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula 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.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The next entry deepens the tale, broadens the animatronic terror cast, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: 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

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and directed 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. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festivals as Springboards

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.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Key Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror retakes ground
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The 2026 Horror slate: Sequels, universe starters, plus A hectic Calendar optimized for Scares

Dek The upcoming genre season lines up from day one with a January cluster, following that unfolds through the mid-year, and deep into the year-end corridor, marrying IP strength, untold stories, and data-minded offsets. Studios with streamers are leaning into lean spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that transform the slate’s entries into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has established itself as the most reliable release in release plans, a lane that can scale when it connects and still limit the floor when it stumbles. After 2023 signaled to greenlighters that low-to-mid budget pictures can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 extended the rally with director-led heat and slow-burn breakouts. The tailwind moved into 2025, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is demand for many shades, from sequel tracks to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The result for 2026 is a programming that appears tightly organized across distributors, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of recognizable IP and novel angles, and a refocused emphasis on big-screen windows that feed downstream value on premium digital and OTT platforms.

Schedulers say the genre now behaves like a wildcard on the grid. The genre can bow on nearly any frame, furnish a clear pitch for marketing and short-form placements, and outpace with moviegoers that come out on early shows and hold through the second frame if the entry works. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates assurance in that dynamic. The year gets underway with a crowded January schedule, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a fall run that runs into late October and into the next week. The gridline also features the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and streamers that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and widen at the inflection point.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across linked properties and heritage properties. Big banners are not just rolling another follow-up. They are shaping as lineage with a heightened moment, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a cast configuration that connects a latest entry to a original cycle. At the same time, the helmers behind the marquee originals are doubling down on material texture, practical gags and concrete locations. That combination gives the 2026 slate a confident blend of brand comfort and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount fires first with two centerpiece bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, angling it as both a lineage transfer and a foundation-forward character-forward chapter. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach points to a throwback-friendly approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive leaning on recognizable motifs, initial cast looks, and a tiered teaser plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will foreground. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will build general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three separate projects. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, loss-driven, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise uncanny live moments and micro spots that fuses attachment and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend affords Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, in-camera leaning mix can feel top-tier on a efficient spend. Frame it as a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that emphasizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new Get More Info take has a clearer mandate to serve both players and novices. The fall slot lets Sony to build promo materials around lore, and monster aesthetics, elements that can accelerate deluxe auditorium demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that boosts both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video blends library titles with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps optionality about in-house releases and festival wins, finalizing horror entries near their drops and positioning as event drops drops with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of focused cinema runs and swift platform pivots that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to secure select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to widen. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The standing approach is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is known enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps make sense of the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not foreclose a parallel release from delivering when the brand was powerful. In 2024, auteur craft horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they shift POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

Behind-the-camera trends

The shop talk behind these films telegraph a continued emphasis on practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that spotlights texture and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta reframe that centers its original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster aesthetics and world-building, which align with convention floor stunts and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel essential. Look for trailers that center razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that benefit on big speakers.

Month-by-month map

January is stacked. 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 brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the menu of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Post-January through spring load in summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now nurtures 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can deliver 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 premium screens.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited asset reveals that put concept first.

Christmas prestige. 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, slow-rolling, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card spend.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s virtual companion turns into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss scramble to survive on a cut-off island as the control dynamic turns and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to terror, grounded in Cronin’s in-camera craft and slow-bloom 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 in-home haunting narrative that routes the horror through a youngster’s wavering subjective lens. Rating: to be announced. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-supported and toplined eerie suspense.

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 comic send-up that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further reopens, with a fresh family tethered to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A new start designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-first horror over action spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: pending. Production: continuing. 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 period language and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, managed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Calendar math also matters. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will coexist across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where 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 maximize those pockets. 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, 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 momentum and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, 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 surface detail, soundscape, and framing 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, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the frights sell the seats.