Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streamers

A bone-chilling mystic shockfest from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric evil when unknowns become instruments in a hellish trial. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving story of survival and timeless dread that will reshape scare flicks this scare season. Realized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and tone-heavy suspense flick follows five people who awaken trapped in a remote hideaway under the malevolent control of Kyra, a tormented girl haunted by a 2,000-year-old scriptural evil. Anticipate to be absorbed by a theatrical adventure that melds gut-punch terror with ancient myths, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a long-standing trope in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reimagined when the malevolences no longer originate from an outside force, but rather from deep inside. This echoes the grimmest version of the group. The result is a intense identity crisis where the drama becomes a brutal battle between divinity and wickedness.


In a isolated landscape, five individuals find themselves stuck under the unholy control and domination of a haunted apparition. As the companions becomes helpless to resist her manipulation, detached and followed by unknowns indescribable, they are obligated to encounter their greatest panics while the moments brutally edges forward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension mounts and connections collapse, urging each character to scrutinize their self and the idea of independent thought itself. The tension surge with every beat, delivering a paranormal ride that connects paranormal dread with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to tap into primitive panic, an presence beyond recorded history, manifesting in emotional vulnerability, and challenging a force that strips down our being when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra needed manifesting something beneath mortal despair. She is innocent until the demon emerges, and that metamorphosis is terrifying because it is so deep.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing watchers in all regions can experience this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, making the film to scare fans abroad.


Experience this soul-jarring trip into the unknown. Experience *Young & Cursed* this launch day to uncover these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For teasers, set experiences, and press updates straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit the film’s website.





U.S. horror’s major pivot: 2025 for genre fans American release plan blends Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, in parallel with tentpole growls

From pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in old testament echoes as well as installment follow-ups and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the most textured together with precision-timed year for the modern era.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Major studios hold down the year with known properties, simultaneously platform operators stack the fall with new perspectives as well as old-world menace. At the same time, indie storytellers is carried on the kinetic energy from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are disciplined, and 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. landing in mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures drops the final chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. The ante is higher this round, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative with Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a clever angle. No puffed out backstory. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

What’s Next: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The approaching fear lineup: next chapters, non-franchise titles, and also A jammed Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek The incoming horror calendar crowds from the jump with a January traffic jam, following that unfolds through the warm months, and carrying into the year-end corridor, braiding brand heft, new concepts, and shrewd counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are betting on mid-range economics, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that turn these films into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the surest tool in studio lineups, a corner that can accelerate when it connects and still limit the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year proved to buyers that lean-budget horror vehicles can steer pop culture, the following year held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The momentum rolled into 2025, where legacy revivals and arthouse crossovers confirmed there is a market for different modes, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that play globally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a calendar that is strikingly coherent across the field, with obvious clusters, a harmony of established brands and novel angles, and a recommitted attention on release windows that feed downstream value on PVOD and digital services.

Marketers add the genre now performs as a versatile piece on the calendar. Horror can debut on nearly any frame, generate a clear pitch for promo reels and reels, and lead with patrons that respond on advance nights and stay strong through the week two if the feature lands. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 configuration reflects comfort in that engine. The year launches with a weighty January lineup, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while saving space for a fall corridor that runs into late October and past Halloween. The grid also shows the stronger partnership of indie distributors and platforms that can build gradually, grow buzz, and go nationwide at the sweet spot.

An added macro current is IP cultivation across connected story worlds and storied titles. Studio teams are not just greenlighting another return. They are shaping as lineage with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that conveys a reframed mood or a casting choice that binds a next entry to a vintage era. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing material texture, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That blend yields 2026 a strong blend of home base and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two spotlight pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a relay and a back-to-basics character piece. Cameras are rolling get redirected here in Atlanta, and the artistic posture indicates a memory-charged approach without looping the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push centered on signature symbols, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will generate broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever dominates genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is straightforward, heartbroken, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an machine companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on uncanny live moments and micro spots that interlaces companionship and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele projects are marketed as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a second trailer wave that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, physical-effects centered aesthetic can feel top-tier on a efficient spend. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror shock that centers global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is positioning as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around lore, and creature work, elements that can boost PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror built on textural authenticity and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that enhances both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends acquired titles with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library engagement, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries tight to release and staging as events debuts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that translates talk to trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 runway with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is simple: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception justifies. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using select theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

Legacy titles versus originals

By number, 2026 favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a new angle. Paramount is emphasizing character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and advance-audience nights.

Past-three-year patterns outline the plan. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not stop a hybrid test from working when the brand was big. In 2024, director-craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they change perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to link the films through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without lulls.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued bias toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that emphasizes tone and tension rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and guild coverage before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature and environment design, which lend themselves to convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that elevate surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

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 macro-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the variety of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Early-year through spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card use.

Embedded title notes

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s virtual companion shifts into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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 run into a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: gothic-game 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 prickly boss claw to survive on a isolated island as the chain of command upends and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to menace, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 home-set haunting premise that explores the panic of a child’s mercurial senses. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

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 send-up revival that satirizes hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-core horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces frame this lineup. First, production that eased or rearranged in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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 debuts. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, managed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can capture a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first 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. Expect a healthy 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundcraft, and picture 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 Looks Exciting

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the frights sell the seats.