Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, landing October 2025 on premium platforms

This eerie spiritual thriller from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried evil when strangers become instruments in a devilish experiment. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense journey of survival and prehistoric entity that will reshape terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Directed by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody fearfest follows five figures who snap to locked in a hidden shack under the sinister power of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a two-thousand-year-old sacred-era entity. Steel yourself to be drawn in by a visual journey that harmonizes visceral dread with mythic lore, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a enduring theme in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is redefined when the demons no longer appear outside their bodies, but rather within themselves. This embodies the grimmest dimension of the players. The result is a riveting inner struggle where the plotline becomes a unforgiving contest between innocence and sin.


In a remote natural abyss, five youths find themselves marooned under the sinister grip and curse of a enigmatic person. As the companions becomes incapable to escape her grasp, left alone and tormented by creatures beyond comprehension, they are pushed to encounter their core terrors while the timeline relentlessly ticks onward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety rises and connections erode, pressuring each figure to rethink their existence and the nature of conscious will itself. The danger grow with every minute, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that intertwines supernatural terror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dive into elemental fright, an presence from prehistory, embedding itself in human fragility, and questioning a spirit that challenges autonomy when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra involved tapping into something more primal than sorrow. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that change is haunting because it is so emotional.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that customers worldwide can dive into this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its initial teaser, which has garnered over six-figure audience.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, giving access to the movie to horror fans worldwide.


Do not miss this unforgettable path of possession. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to confront these dark realities about the mind.


For previews, production news, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the movie’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: 2025 in focus American release plan melds Mythic Possession, independent shockers, plus franchise surges

Running from survival horror saturated with scriptural legend and extending to legacy revivals and focused festival visions, 2025 is tracking to be the richest together with precision-timed year in years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. the big studios set cornerstones through proven series, as subscription platforms pack the fall with unboxed visions as well as scriptural shivers. On another front, the independent cohort is buoyed by the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween stays the prime week, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are exacting, therefore 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium dread reemerges

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp begins the calendar with a bold swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer eases, Warner’s pipeline 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 finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retrograde shiver, trauma as theme, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The new chapter enriches the lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. 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 canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, 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 Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

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



The new spook Year Ahead: brand plays, original films, together with A busy Calendar calibrated for chills

Dek: The new terror cycle crams up front with a January cluster, from there extends through summer corridors, and well into the December corridor, blending IP strength, creative pitches, and smart offsets. Studios and streamers are committing to smart costs, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that elevate these pictures into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has turned into the most reliable release in programming grids, a corner that can accelerate when it connects and still limit the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year demonstrated to studio brass that disciplined-budget chillers can own mainstream conversation, 2024 kept energy high with signature-voice projects and surprise hits. The upswing rolled into 2025, where revived properties and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is capacity for multiple flavors, from sequel tracks to original features that play globally. The net effect for 2026 is a slate that shows rare alignment across players, with defined corridors, a combination of familiar brands and new packages, and a recommitted stance on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on paid VOD and OTT platforms.

Studio leaders note the genre now works like a fill-in ace on the schedule. The genre can launch on most weekends, furnish a sharp concept for promo reels and short-form placements, and outpace with ticket buyers that appear on first-look nights and keep coming through the second weekend if the movie fires. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 pattern underscores comfort in that logic. The year opens with a thick January stretch, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while reserving space for a autumn stretch that reaches into late October and into early November. The map also reflects the ongoing integration of specialized imprints and OTT outlets that can launch in limited release, stoke social talk, and scale up at the inflection point.

A further high-level trend is series management across linked properties and legacy franchises. The players are not just releasing another return. They are setting up lineage with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a recalibrated tone or a lead change that links a latest entry to a early run. At the simultaneously, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are celebrating material texture, practical effects and grounded locations. That convergence gives 2026 a smart balance of home base and invention, which is what works overseas.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent titles that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the heart, steering it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character-forward chapter. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach telegraphs a memory-charged approach without covering again the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push centered on recognizable motifs, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via 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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will go after general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is crisp, tragic, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an algorithmic mate that turns into a lethal partner. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and short reels that blurs affection and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be 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 sets up a official title to become an marketing beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles click site concentrate elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His projects are presented as auteur events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend allows Universal to fill 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has made clear that a blood-soaked, in-camera leaning execution can feel prestige on a controlled budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror hit that spotlights global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio deploys two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is framing as a reset 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 well-defined brief to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build artifacts around canon, and monster design, elements that can drive large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places 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 shaped by rigorous craft and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is warm.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform windowing in 2026 run on established tracks. The Universal horror run head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a stair-step that enhances both premiere heat and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with global acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, spooky hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a paired of limited theatrical footprints and rapid platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is clean: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, modernized for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday frame to widen. That positioning has paid off for director-led genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception merits. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By skew, 2026 bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage fan equity. The caveat, as ever, is staleness. The go-to fix is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a emerging director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the team and cast is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the template. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not preclude a simultaneous release test from paying off when the brand was potent. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reorient and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 shot back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to tie installments through protagonists and motifs and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The director conversations behind the 2026 slate indicate a continued tilt toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that underscores tone and tension rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which fit with fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. 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 quiet contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth endures.

Q1 into Q2 build the summer base. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a early fall window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited teasers that lean on concept not plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s synthetic partner turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 demanding boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the power balance of power swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, built on Cronin’s physical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting piece that leverages the fright of a child’s tricky perceptions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural 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 comic send-up that targets of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fascinations. Rating: pending. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 breaks out, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family bound to past horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: pending. Logline: A reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-core horror over action spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: this content to be announced. Production: continuing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 dread. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 search for sleepers 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound field, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.