Mythic Evil Stirs within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding supernatural thriller, launching Oct 2025 on major platforms

This blood-curdling supernatural shockfest from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an ancient evil when passersby become instruments in a diabolical struggle. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving saga of resilience and primeval wickedness that will resculpt terror storytelling this harvest season. Produced by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and moody suspense flick follows five teens who are stirred locked in a isolated hideaway under the malevolent control of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Steel yourself to be drawn in by a immersive journey that harmonizes instinctive fear with mystical narratives, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a recurring foundation in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is twisted when the fiends no longer descend from external sources, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the darkest dimension of the group. The result is a bone-chilling psychological battle where the plotline becomes a merciless face-off between light and darkness.


In a unforgiving no-man's-land, five young people find themselves marooned under the dark dominion and overtake of a uncanny character. As the protagonists becomes unable to reject her curse, exiled and hunted by terrors ungraspable, they are forced to reckon with their greatest panics while the deathwatch coldly runs out toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and alliances shatter, pressuring each soul to rethink their existence and the idea of personal agency itself. The pressure climb with every beat, delivering a paranormal ride that merges otherworldly panic with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to extract pure dread, an evil older than civilization itself, filtering through emotional fractures, and navigating a presence that redefines identity when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra involved tapping into something beneath mortal despair. She is insensitive until the haunting manifests, and that change is harrowing because it is so close.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for public screening beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering horror lovers in all regions can witness this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original clip, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, making the film to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this gripping path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to survive these haunting secrets about existence.


For previews, director cuts, and news from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit our horror hub.





Horror’s watershed moment: 2025 in focus U.S. calendar braids together myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Running from survivor-centric dread infused with scriptural legend and stretching into canon extensions in concert with focused festival visions, 2025 is lining up as the richest as well as precision-timed year of the last decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors set cornerstones by way of signature titles, in tandem digital services front-load the fall with discovery plays as well as scriptural shivers. At the same time, festival-forward creators is carried on the afterglow from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, notably this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, as a result 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

Universal fires the first shot with a bold swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer eases, the Warner lot bows the concluding entry from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: 70s style chill, trauma centered writing, with ghostly inner logic. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Plays: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also notable is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative led by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy IP: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

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

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, under Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror reemerges
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The approaching fright year to come: brand plays, standalone ideas, And A hectic Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek The upcoming scare year clusters up front with a January glut, before it flows through June and July, and carrying into the festive period, combining name recognition, creative pitches, and smart counterplay. Studios and streamers are embracing responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that shape genre titles into cross-demo moments.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the sturdy counterweight in programming grids, a corner that can spike when it breaks through and still hedge the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 showed executives that efficiently budgeted fright engines can lead cultural conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam fed into 2025, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects signaled there is space for many shades, from series extensions to original features that travel well. The takeaway for 2026 is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across the major shops, with purposeful groupings, a combination of established brands and original hooks, and a refocused priority on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and SVOD.

Planners observe the genre now works like a versatile piece on the rollout map. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, yield a simple premise for ad units and platform-native cuts, and outperform with viewers that arrive on Thursday nights and continue through the week two if the movie hits. Emerging from a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping shows trust in that engine. The slate starts with a busy January run, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a fall corridor that flows toward holiday-adjacent weekends and beyond. The program also highlights the expanded integration of specialized imprints and streamers that can launch in limited release, stoke social talk, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is brand management across unified worlds and classic IP. Big banners are not just mounting another chapter. They are trying to present continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that links a next film to a foundational era. At the very same time, the visionaries behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating in-camera technique, on-set effects and site-specific worlds. That blend delivers 2026 a lively combination of brand comfort and surprise, which is what works overseas.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two headline plays that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance indicates a classic-referencing treatment without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will seek general-audience talk through viral-minded bites, news with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three differentiated releases. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tidy, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that becomes a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and short-form creative that blurs companionship and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. The filmmaker’s films are framed as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, in-camera leaning aesthetic can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror shock that leans hard into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is presenting as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify premium screens and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror built on rigorous craft and language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that boosts both premiere heat and sub growth in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves outside acquisitions with global pickups and small theatrical windows when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog discovery, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and curated strips to maximize the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival buys, locking in horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a hybrid of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 sequence with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, modernized for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a theatrical rollout for the title, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by 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 in tandem, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By number, 2026 skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is spotlighting character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the plan. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not foreclose a day-date move from delivering when the brand was robust. In 2024, director-craft horror over-performed in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to link the films through character spine and themes and to keep assets in-market without long gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The creative meetings behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued lean toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on grain and menace rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in long-lead features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster realization and design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. Universal’s 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 tonal palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

February through May seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s AI companion unfolds into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss push to survive on a remote island as the power balance turns and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s tactile craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting story that threads the dread through a kid’s wavering inner lens. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-crafted and name-above-title supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fervors. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a fresh family anchored to long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: to be announced. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and elemental dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three hands-on forces drive this lineup. First, production that eased or shifted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundcraft, 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.

A Promising 2026

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is franchise muscle where it helps, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.