Ancient Terror stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

A unnerving otherworldly nightmare movie from storyteller / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an primordial terror when newcomers become vehicles in a fiendish ritual. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful story of overcoming and archaic horror that will reconstruct the horror genre this spooky time. Produced by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and immersive story follows five young adults who awaken imprisoned in a wooded house under the ominous grip of Kyra, a mysterious girl controlled by a 2,000-year-old holy text monster. Steel yourself to be immersed by a motion picture adventure that intertwines bodily fright with ancestral stories, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a enduring foundation in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is subverted when the entities no longer arise beyond the self, but rather through their own souls. This illustrates the deepest corner of every character. The result is a psychologically brutal internal warfare where the conflict becomes a unforgiving fight between light and darkness.


In a barren natural abyss, five youths find themselves marooned under the ominous sway and grasp of a secretive character. As the characters becomes incapable to withstand her curse, isolated and hunted by creatures beyond comprehension, they are cornered to acknowledge their deepest fears while the countdown coldly strikes toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion mounts and alliances implode, coercing each member to examine their self and the integrity of conscious will itself. The tension amplify with every short lapse, delivering a horror experience that weaves together spiritual fright with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to explore elemental fright, an evil rooted in antiquity, emerging via our fears, and confronting a curse that strips down our being when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra required summoning something rooted in terror. She is ignorant until the invasion happens, and that conversion is eerie because it is so unshielded.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for viewing beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing subscribers anywhere can be part of this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original clip, which has garnered over strong viewer count.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, bringing the film to viewers around the world.


Be sure to catch this haunted path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to see these unholy truths about mankind.


For bonus footage, special features, and reveals directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit the official digital haunt.





Today’s horror major pivot: 2025 for genre fans U.S. rollouts braids together archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, plus IP aftershocks

Across survival horror steeped in biblical myth to installment follow-ups plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into the richest combined with calculated campaign year in the past ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. top-tier distributors are anchoring the year using marquee IP, in parallel OTT services load up the fall with discovery plays plus primordial unease. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is riding the uplift of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are exacting, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner sets the tone with an audacious swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. set for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, 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 lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson returns, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: Slim budgets, major punch

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga led by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

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.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Authored and directed 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.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. 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.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No canon weight. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy IP: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Key Trends

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next chiller season: installments, original films, And A brimming Calendar aimed at goosebumps

Dek The upcoming terror cycle loads up front with a January traffic jam, after that flows through midyear, and far into the December corridor, combining marquee clout, novel approaches, and strategic calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that frame these pictures into water-cooler talk.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The field has shown itself to be the surest move in release strategies, a corner that can grow when it performs and still hedge the drawdown when it misses. After the 2023 year showed decision-makers that lean-budget scare machines can own cultural conversation, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and surprise hits. The carry moved into 2025, where resurrections and awards-minded projects underscored there is an opening for several lanes, from series extensions to fresh IP that export nicely. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a lineup that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with obvious clusters, a blend of known properties and novel angles, and a re-energized strategy on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and home platforms.

Buyers contend the space now behaves like a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can debut on numerous frames, yield a clean hook for teasers and vertical videos, and outperform with viewers that line up on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the next pass if the title satisfies. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 cadence indicates certainty in that equation. The slate commences with a thick January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for off-slot scheduling, while carving room for a autumn stretch that stretches into the fright window and afterwards. The calendar also shows the ongoing integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can stage a platform run, grow buzz, and widen at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across unified worlds and established properties. Distribution groups are not just rolling another return. They are shaping as lore continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a brandmark that signals a refreshed voice or a star attachment that reconnects a next film to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are leaning into material texture, on-set effects and vivid settings. That interplay affords 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount sets the tone early with two front-of-slate pushes that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the front, signaling it as both a legacy handover and a return-to-roots character-focused installment. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture conveys a roots-evoking campaign without repeating the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Count on a promo wave fueled by iconic art, first images of characters, and a promo sequence aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reignites 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 as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will play up. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt general-audience talk through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated releases. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tidy, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man sets up an algorithmic mate that becomes a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a my company competition-heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to echo odd public stunts and short-cut promos that melds longing and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele projects are positioned as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The pre-Halloween slot creates space for Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, practical-first aesthetic can feel premium on a lean spend. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio books two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, continuing a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has reshuffled 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 the studio is describing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both players and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around world-building, and creature design, elements that can amplify PLF interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in textural authenticity and historical speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. The label has already locked the day for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is robust.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on familiar rails. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a sequence that maximizes both week-one demand and platform bumps in the back half. Prime Video stitches together acquired titles with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library curation, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and featured rows to extend momentum on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about internal projects and festival deals, locking in horror entries on shorter runways and coalescing around premieres with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that translates talk to trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate 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 sell is tight: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, recalibrated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a standard theatrical run for the title, an promising marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas window to widen. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception justifies. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent comps contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not obstruct a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they alter lens and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, provides the means for marketing to cross-link entries through relationships and themes and to hold creative in the market without long breaks.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind this slate signal a continued preference for real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that leans on mood and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in long-lead press and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a first look that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta refresh that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which favor convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

From winter to holidays

January is full. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tone spread lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect 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 moved through premium slots.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss push to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic inverts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 domestic haunting piece that teases the fear of a child’s unreliable read. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A send-up revival that targets of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: production booked 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 bursts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a unlucky family entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBD. Production: continuing. 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 antique diction and primordial menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or reshuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where value-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, 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 sequence upward, 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 visual texture, acoustics, and visuals 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 Shapes Up Strong

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is franchise muscle where it helps, original 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.