Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on global platforms

An eerie spectral suspense film from storyteller / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an timeless nightmare when newcomers become proxies in a dark contest. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful journey of struggle and ancient evil that will revolutionize terror storytelling this Halloween season. Brought to life by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and cinematic suspense flick follows five characters who arise ensnared in a far-off cottage under the ominous rule of Kyra, a tormented girl consumed by a millennia-old ancient fiend. Steel yourself to be captivated by a narrative experience that combines bodily fright with ancestral stories, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a classic theme in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is reversed when the entities no longer originate beyond the self, but rather within themselves. This suggests the malevolent element of the victims. The result is a bone-chilling mind game where the tension becomes a merciless face-off between divinity and wickedness.


In a isolated no-man's-land, five teens find themselves stuck under the malicious force and curse of a mysterious character. As the protagonists becomes vulnerable to evade her grasp, abandoned and attacked by evils inconceivable, they are compelled to confront their soulful dreads while the countdown ruthlessly winds toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust escalates and bonds crack, forcing each soul to evaluate their self and the nature of self-determination itself. The pressure mount with every second, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that merges spiritual fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to evoke instinctual horror, an curse beyond time, feeding on human fragility, and dealing with a spirit that erodes the self when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra involved tapping into something far beyond human desperation. She is insensitive until the entity awakens, and that metamorphosis is bone-chilling because it is so deep.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing viewers in all regions can engage with this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its initial teaser, which has gathered over strong viewer count.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, bringing the film to viewers around the world.


Be sure to catch this mind-warping spiral into evil. Join *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these unholy truths about free will.


For previews, set experiences, and updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACFilm across platforms and visit the official movie site.





Horror’s sea change: the year 2025 domestic schedule melds primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, alongside IP aftershocks

Across pressure-cooker survival tales suffused with ancient scripture and extending to returning series together with focused festival visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned plus intentionally scheduled year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Major studios are anchoring the year through proven series, concurrently premium streamers saturate the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, independent banners is riding the momentum of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, however this time, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are targeted, therefore 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline lights the fuse with a big gambit: a reimagined Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. arriving mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. While the template is known, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: throwback unease, trauma in the foreground, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time, the stakes are raised, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror duet featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. 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.

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 is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror swings back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The approaching genre calendar year ahead: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, together with A stacked Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek The new terror season loads in short order with a January glut, after that extends through midyear, and deep into the holiday stretch, fusing IP strength, new voices, and well-timed alternatives. Distributors with platforms are relying on efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and shareable marketing that elevate genre titles into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This category has shown itself to be the most reliable lever in release plans, a segment that can break out when it breaks through and still buffer the risk when it underperforms. After 2023 demonstrated to executives that responsibly budgeted pictures can steer social chatter, the following year carried the beat with filmmaker-forward plays and sleeper breakouts. The run fed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and prestige plays signaled there is capacity for varied styles, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that export nicely. The aggregate for 2026 is a grid that reads highly synchronized across players, with purposeful groupings, a spread of household franchises and original hooks, and a re-energized emphasis on box-office windows that feed downstream value on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Buyers contend the space now functions as a flex slot on the slate. Horror can premiere on numerous frames, yield a easy sell for creative and reels, and outperform with demo groups that come out on early shows and keep coming through the next pass if the picture fires. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern exhibits confidence in that logic. The slate starts with a busy January run, then uses spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while reserving space for a October build that connects to late October and past the holiday. The layout also illustrates the deeper integration of indie distributors and SVOD players that can nurture a platform play, generate chatter, and move wide at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across ongoing universes and storied titles. Big banners are not just mounting another entry. They are moving to present lore continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that suggests a recalibrated tone or a ensemble decision that anchors a new installment to a classic era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the headline-grabbing originals are returning to physical effects work, practical effects and vivid settings. That pairing affords click to read more the 2026 slate a strong blend of brand comfort and freshness, which is what works overseas.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount opens strong with two prominent bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the lead, positioning the film as both a succession moment and a back-to-basics character-first story. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture conveys a throwback-friendly bent without retreading the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by brand visuals, early character teases, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick updates to whatever tops pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is efficient, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man activates an AI companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror uncanny live moments and brief clips that mixes romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under development titles 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 fan moment closer to the debut look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are branded as director events, with a opaque teaser and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives the studio room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has established that a raw, on-set effects led aesthetic can feel elevated on a lean spend. Expect a red-band summer horror charge that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio lines up two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand in play 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 restarts in what the studio is framing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign creative around universe detail, and creature work, elements that can increase format premiums and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases feed copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that amplifies both launch urgency and subscriber lifts in the tail. Prime Video combines licensed films with cross-border buys and brief theater runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library curation, using timely promos, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to lengthen the tail on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about internal projects and festival additions, dating horror entries near launch and framing as events releases with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a two-step of targeted cinema placements and rapid platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a curated basis. The platform has been willing to acquire select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them this contact form a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 corridor 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 offer is tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, reimagined for modern sound and image. 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 hinted a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using mini theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate bends toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is spotlighting relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French sensibility from a fresh helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker 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 a recognizable brand, the bundle is known enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror outperformed in premium large format. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they pivot perspective 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, allows marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on tone and tension rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta inflection that centers its original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster aesthetics and world-building, which work nicely for convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that shine in top rooms.

The schedule at a glance

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 gloomy counterbalance amid heftier brand moves. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tonal variety makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Q1 into Q2 prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a early fall window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a slow-reveal plan and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss work to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy shifts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting story that filters its scares through a youngster’s unreliable subjective lens. Rating: TBA. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-built and star-fronted supernatural mood piece.

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 parody reboot that satirizes current genre trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 spreads, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a different family tethered to past horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBA. Production: underway. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and elemental fear. Rating: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three practical forces structure this lineup. First, production that stalled or migrated in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming drops. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work social-ready stingers from test screenings, controlled scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

The surprise-hit pursuit 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 unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome 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 earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound, and cinematography 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, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.