Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites primordial evil, a fear soaked feature, launching October 2025 across major platforms

This eerie unearthly suspense story from screenwriter / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an timeless evil when foreigners become tokens in a fiendish ceremony. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving portrayal of living through and ancient evil that will reshape horror this fall. Crafted by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and emotionally thick thriller follows five characters who snap to imprisoned in a wooded lodge under the hostile command of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a antiquated ancient fiend. Steel yourself to be captivated by a immersive experience that weaves together gut-punch terror with mystical narratives, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a legendary foundation in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is redefined when the spirits no longer descend from external sources, but rather from their core. This represents the deepest element of the victims. The result is a psychologically brutal internal warfare where the suspense becomes a brutal contest between purity and corruption.


In a bleak backcountry, five adults find themselves confined under the ghastly dominion and domination of a elusive female presence. As the cast becomes powerless to withstand her grasp, detached and stalked by terrors impossible to understand, they are obligated to acknowledge their darkest emotions while the hours mercilessly ticks toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety grows and connections fracture, demanding each participant to rethink their being and the foundation of self-determination itself. The consequences rise with every short lapse, delivering a horror experience that weaves together unearthly horror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to extract primitive panic, an power that predates humanity, channeling itself through our fears, and examining a entity that peels away humanity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was about accessing something past sanity. She is in denial until the entity awakens, and that evolution is bone-chilling because it is so deep.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing viewers everywhere can face this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has earned over six-figure audience.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Witness this bone-rattling voyage through terror. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to acknowledge these spiritual awakenings about the human condition.


For sneak peeks, production insights, and insider scoops from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across media channels and visit our spooky domain.





Today’s horror sea change: 2025 for genre fans U.S. calendar melds primeval-possession lore, Indie Shockers, set against brand-name tremors

Beginning with survival horror steeped in near-Eastern lore and onward to installment follow-ups plus pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered as well as tactically planned year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios lay down anchors by way of signature titles, concurrently streamers pack the fall with unboxed visions as well as scriptural shivers. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is surfing the kinetic energy from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween stays the prime week, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, but this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, therefore 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

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

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and the memorable motifs return: throwback unease, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time the stakes climb, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, speaking to teens and older millennials. It books December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a calculated bet. No bloated canon. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror swings back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The coming 2026 fear calendar year ahead: brand plays, filmmaker-first projects, together with A busy Calendar aimed at shocks

Dek The new genre slate crams at the outset with a January cluster, following that spreads through the warm months, and well into the festive period, weaving marquee clout, fresh ideas, and tactical counterweight. Distributors with platforms are relying on lean spends, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that transform genre titles into national conversation.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This category has solidified as the predictable tool in release plans, a category that can grow when it clicks and still buffer the risk when it stumbles. After 2023 showed strategy teams that lean-budget chillers can shape the discourse, 2024 maintained heat with director-led heat and surprise hits. The trend pushed into 2025, where legacy revivals and critical darlings showed there is demand for multiple flavors, from series extensions to director-led originals that resonate abroad. The combined impact for 2026 is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with intentional bunching, a spread of legacy names and original hooks, and a re-energized commitment on big-screen windows that power the aftermarket on premium home window and home streaming.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now slots in as a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can roll out on open real estate, generate a grabby hook for teasers and short-form placements, and outperform with patrons that arrive on first-look nights and maintain momentum through the second frame if the picture connects. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 configuration shows comfort in that logic. The calendar starts with a stacked January band, then primes spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a fall corridor that connects to Halloween and past the holiday. The schedule also reflects the continuing integration of specialty arms and streamers that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and broaden at the proper time.

Another broad trend is brand curation across unified worlds and established properties. Big banners are not just pushing another chapter. They are shaping as threaded continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a reframed mood or a casting pivot that connects a latest entry to a early run. At the same time, the helmers behind the top original plays are celebrating material texture, physical gags and site-specific worlds. That alloy offers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of assurance and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a lineage transfer and a foundation-forward character-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a heritage-honoring approach without looping the last two entries’ family thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will hunt four-quadrant chatter through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever defines the discourse that spring.

Universal has three unique pushes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is elegant, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to replay eerie street stunts and short-form creative that threads love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are branded as filmmaker events, with a teaser that reveals little and a next wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a visceral, practical-effects forward mix can feel prestige on a efficient spend. Expect a grime-caked summer horror jolt that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, sustaining a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is presenting as a new take 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 mission to serve both fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around lore, and creature effects, elements that can increase premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that enhances both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the later window. Prime Video combines catalogue additions with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on lifetime take. Netflix keeps options open about internal projects and festival additions, scheduling horror entries near launch and coalescing around releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a paired of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules 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 sustained usage when the genre conversation builds.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has shown results for prestige horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres his comment is here at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using boutique theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their membership.

Brands and originals

By count, 2026 tilts in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to brand each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is spotlighting character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-inflected take from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is grounded enough to build pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years outline the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not stop a hybrid test from delivering when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in PLF. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel new when they pivot perspective and increase ambition. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to cross-link entries through personae and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long breaks.

How the look and feel evolve

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the year’s horror indicate a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers grain and menace rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which fit with fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that center precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that explode in larger rooms.

From winter to holidays

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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid big-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring load in summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows 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 lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can hit 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 cycled through PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will my review here seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited previews that lean on concept not plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s core. 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 bereaved man’s intelligent companion grows into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: this page After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

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 modern reimagining that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s practical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 domestic haunting story that teases the chill of a child’s inconsistent perspective. Rating: pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-scale and toplined supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody reboot that skewers today’s horror trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new household caught in lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBD. Production: proceeding. 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 era-accurate language and elemental fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three hands-on forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or reshuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and condensed timelines. 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate bite-size scare clips from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 cost-efficient 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, 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 texture, audio design, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.