Antediluvian Terror Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising thriller, bowing October 2025 across global platforms

A chilling unearthly scare-fest from creator / director Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an archaic evil when drifters become puppets in a satanic ordeal. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching portrayal of continuance and ancient evil that will alter scare flicks this October. Visualized by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and eerie cinema piece follows five characters who suddenly rise trapped in a secluded shelter under the malevolent dominion of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a millennia-old ancient fiend. Anticipate to be immersed by a screen-based experience that unites bone-deep fear with arcane tradition, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a mainstay foundation in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is inverted when the spirits no longer arise beyond the self, but rather deep within. This represents the most sinister element of the players. The result is a relentless internal warfare where the narrative becomes a merciless conflict between light and darkness.


In a barren no-man's-land, five youths find themselves isolated under the ominous aura and infestation of a secretive female presence. As the survivors becomes incapacitated to resist her rule, exiled and attacked by presences impossible to understand, they are obligated to confront their inner demons while the final hour ruthlessly ticks onward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust rises and connections collapse, coercing each cast member to scrutinize their essence and the notion of autonomy itself. The tension accelerate with every fleeting time, delivering a chilling narrative that blends otherworldly panic with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to evoke instinctual horror, an power rooted in antiquity, feeding on human fragility, and exposing a force that threatens selfhood when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra involved tapping into something deeper than fear. She is in denial until the invasion happens, and that evolution is bone-chilling because it is so deep.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure households internationally can witness this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first preview, which has attracted over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, spreading the horror to fans of fear everywhere.


Join this bone-rattling path of possession. Experience *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to face these haunting secrets about our species.


For exclusive trailers, filmmaker commentary, and insider scoops from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across social media and visit the movie portal.





Contemporary horror’s watershed moment: 2025 for genre fans stateside slate braids together primeval-possession lore, festival-born jolts, set against returning-series thunder

Ranging from endurance-driven terror grounded in biblical myth and extending to franchise returns paired with incisive indie visions, 2025 is coalescing into horror’s most layered along with blueprinted year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. leading studios bookend the months by way of signature titles, in parallel premium streamers saturate the fall with new perspectives in concert with ancestral chills. At the same time, the art-house flank is propelled by the momentum of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, hence 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium dread reemerges

The top end is active. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp opens the year with an audacious swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a clear present-tense world. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. targeting mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Eli Craig directs and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The return delves further into myth, grows the animatronic horror lineup, courting teens and the thirty something base. It opens in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a tight space body horror vignette pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Conceived 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 the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is an astute call. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, led by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Dials to Watch

Old myth goes broad
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next genre calendar year ahead: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, plus A hectic Calendar optimized for screams

Dek: The incoming horror year builds from the jump with a January logjam, after that stretches through summer corridors, and straight through the holidays, balancing legacy muscle, untold stories, and well-timed counter-scheduling. Studios and platforms are embracing right-sized spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-driven marketing that turn these releases into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror marketplace has proven to be the surest release in annual schedules, a lane that can break out when it connects and still mitigate the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 re-taught strategy teams that low-to-mid budget scare machines can steer audience talk, 2024 continued the surge with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The energy carried into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers signaled there is space for many shades, from series extensions to original features that travel well. The result for 2026 is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across studios, with mapped-out bands, a combination of familiar brands and new concepts, and a revived emphasis on exclusive windows that increase tail monetization on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Marketers add the horror lane now operates like a plug-and-play option on the schedule. Horror can bow on nearly any frame, yield a sharp concept for teasers and social clips, and lead with fans that arrive on Thursday nights and stick through the week two if the entry works. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 configuration signals comfort in that approach. The slate starts with a loaded January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a September to October window that reaches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The schedule also features the expanded integration of specialty arms and platforms that can platform a title, spark evangelism, and scale up at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is series management across interlocking continuities and storied titles. The players are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are setting up threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a new vibe or a ensemble decision that ties a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are favoring tactile craft, on-set effects and specific settings. That pairing offers the 2026 slate a smart balance of familiarity and freshness, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount establishes early momentum with two spotlight moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the heart, presenting it as both a legacy handover and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture hints at a classic-referencing angle without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout built on signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will generate broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that turns into a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that melds companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are presented as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor affords Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has proven that a in-your-face, practical-effects forward aesthetic can feel deluxe on a mid-range budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror shot that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, preserving a proven supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both franchise faithful and general audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can increase premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror built on meticulous craft and period speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that optimizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about Netflix films and festival buys, locking in horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops premieres with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a dual-phase of precision see here theatrical plays and fast windowing that drives paid trials from buzz. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two brand plays. 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 atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a theatrical-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has served the company well for prestige horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception warrants. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited runs to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Balance of brands and originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate favors the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The near-term solution is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a fresh helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the packaging is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set frame the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not block a hybrid test from working when the brand was big. In 2024, director-craft horror punched above its weight in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reorient and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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 filmed in sequence, gives leeway to marketing to bridge entries through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without hiatuses.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued lean toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that emphasizes creep and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and spurs shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which are ideal for convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody 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 have a peek here that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tonal variety opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

February through May prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. 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 finished their premium pass.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a slow-reveal plan and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can win the holiday when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s synthetic partner unfolds into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 tough boss claw to survive on a cut-off island as the control balance swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting scenario that refracts terror through a preteen’s uncertain subjective lens. Rating: forthcoming. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-supported and star-led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A spoof revival that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. Production: production booked 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 erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further widens again, with a fresh family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-core horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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-specific language and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that stalled or rearranged in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming drops. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, providing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, right-sized allotments, 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 grain, acoustics, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand equity where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.