Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes ancient dread, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, launching October 2025 across top streamers

An eerie unearthly nightmare movie from writer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an mythic fear when newcomers become instruments in a hellish experiment. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing depiction of endurance and ancient evil that will alter horror this spooky time. Helmed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and tone-heavy cinema piece follows five lost souls who come to trapped in a far-off structure under the sinister command of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a millennia-old scriptural evil. Anticipate to be hooked by a motion picture outing that integrates bone-deep fear with mythic lore, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a long-standing theme in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is inverted when the spirits no longer emerge from an outside force, but rather inside them. This suggests the most primal aspect of the victims. The result is a psychologically brutal moral showdown where the conflict becomes a brutal conflict between light and darkness.


In a abandoned forest, five youths find themselves imprisoned under the unholy aura and control of a haunted entity. As the companions becomes powerless to break her control, stranded and stalked by forces unimaginable, they are made to reckon with their inner demons while the deathwatch harrowingly counts down toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion surges and associations shatter, requiring each participant to rethink their identity and the concept of freedom of choice itself. The pressure magnify with every fleeting time, delivering a frightening tale that fuses ghostly evil with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dig into instinctual horror, an presence that predates humanity, manifesting in our weaknesses, and questioning a evil that dismantles free will when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra was centered on something beyond human emotion. She is unaware until the haunting manifests, and that turn is harrowing because it is so private.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that streamers from coast to coast can survive this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its initial teaser, which has received over massive response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, taking the terror to horror fans worldwide.


Don’t miss this mind-warping spiral into evil. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to survive these evil-rooted truths about free will.


For film updates, making-of footage, and insider scoops from behind the lens, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your socials and visit the movie’s homepage.





Modern horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar weaves myth-forward possession, signature indie scares, alongside IP aftershocks

Kicking off with last-stand terror drawn from mythic scripture and stretching into returning series and surgical indie voices, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex in tandem with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. top-tier distributors bookend the months with established lines, at the same time premium streamers load up the fall with debut heat together with primordial unease. At the same time, independent banners is drafting behind the momentum of a banner 2024 fest year. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, so 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

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

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

Universal Pictures opens the year with a risk-forward move: a refashioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. timed for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Steered by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It bows in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Big screen is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Autumn density and winter pivot

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 will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 genre season: returning titles, standalone ideas, And A loaded Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek: The arriving terror cycle builds right away with a January pile-up, subsequently spreads through the warm months, and deep into the holiday stretch, marrying series momentum, novel approaches, and tactical counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are committing to mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that shape genre titles into mainstream chatter.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has solidified as the dependable lever in release plans, a category that can scale when it performs and still cushion the exposure when it doesn’t. After 2023 reminded buyers that cost-conscious fright engines can shape mainstream conversation, the following year continued the surge with buzzy auteur projects and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind extended into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is a lane for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with intentional bunching, a combination of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a renewed focus on theatrical windows that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and platforms.

Executives say the category now acts as a swing piece on the calendar. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, generate a tight logline for previews and vertical videos, and punch above weight with audiences that come out on preview nights and continue through the week two if the entry works. Exiting a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm signals faith in that dynamic. The year kicks off with a crowded January run, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that extends to All Hallows period and past Halloween. The arrangement also illustrates the continuing integration of specialized labels and platforms that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and expand at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is brand management across shared IP webs and storied titles. Major shops are not just making another installment. They are setting up continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a re-angled tone or a lead change that ties a upcoming film to a classic era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing material texture, real effects and location-forward worlds. That fusion provides the 2026 slate a confident blend of comfort and novelty, which is how the films export.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent titles 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 center, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative stance indicates a classic-referencing treatment without retreading the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push anchored in recognizable motifs, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reawakens 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 selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will drive large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever tops the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that evolves into a killer companion. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with Universal’s promo team likely to iterate on creepy live activations and short-cut promos that hybridizes romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a public title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are branded as filmmaker events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven execution can feel elevated on a middle budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is selling as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and new audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around world-building, and creature work, elements that can increase premium format interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and period speech, this time set against lycan legends. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video pairs outside acquisitions with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and featured rows to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival additions, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a two-step of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is simple: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, reimagined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a standard theatrical run for the title, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception supports. Anticipate 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 in concert, using precision theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their user base.

Brands and originals

By share, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate fan equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is centering character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is promising a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the packaging is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years announce the method. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not stop a simultaneous release test from working when the brand was big. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, creates space for marketing to connect the chapters through character spine and themes and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The shop talk behind the 2026 entries foreshadow a continued preference for practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that underscores unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-aware reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature and environment design, which work nicely for fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel key. Look for trailers that elevate surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is crowded. 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 atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month closes 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 meaningful, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

February through May stage summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

End of summer through fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that center concept over reveals.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects 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 algorithmic partner shifts into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the hierarchy reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fear, anchored by Cronin’s in-camera craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting narrative that leverages the dread of a child’s mercurial interpretations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-grade and toplined supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons in-vogue horror tropes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: shoot planned 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 breaks out, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household lashed to past horrors. Rating: pending. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: closely held. Rating: undetermined. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall Get More Info expected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three hands-on forces shape this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and pared-down timelines. 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 sleeper-hit 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, aural design, and imagery 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

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.