Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising feature, rolling out Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

An eerie unearthly shockfest from scriptwriter / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an archaic dread when guests become tools in a dark struggle. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of living through and archaic horror that will transform fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and claustrophobic feature follows five strangers who find themselves ensnared in a off-grid lodge under the hostile will of Kyra, a female presence dominated by a ancient biblical demon. Steel yourself to be seized by a immersive ride that weaves together gut-punch terror with mystical narratives, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a well-established concept in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is reimagined when the beings no longer manifest from elsewhere, but rather from their core. This echoes the deepest part of the victims. The result is a harrowing cognitive warzone where the tension becomes a constant face-off between moral forces.


In a bleak wild, five young people find themselves confined under the dark dominion and possession of a mysterious woman. As the group becomes incapacitated to evade her manipulation, marooned and stalked by beings inconceivable, they are forced to stand before their inner horrors while the seconds harrowingly moves toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread intensifies and alliances break, pushing each figure to contemplate their core and the notion of personal agency itself. The consequences amplify with every passing moment, delivering a cinematic nightmare that marries mystical fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to draw upon instinctual horror, an malevolence beyond time, influencing our weaknesses, and dealing with a spirit that questions who we are when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra needed manifesting something more primal than sorrow. She is unaware until the control shifts, and that metamorphosis is soul-crushing because it is so intimate.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure users anywhere can engage with this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has garnered over 100,000 views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, presenting the nightmare to a worldwide audience.


Do not miss this unforgettable spiral into evil. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to survive these evil-rooted truths about free will.


For director insights, set experiences, and insider scoops via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit the movie’s homepage.





American horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 cycle U.S. rollouts weaves legend-infused possession, art-house nightmares, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Spanning life-or-death fear saturated with biblical myth through to legacy revivals together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned paired with intentionally scheduled year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. major banners are anchoring the year with known properties, simultaneously streaming platforms load up the fall with debut heat and archetypal fear. At the same time, festival-forward creators is surfing the kinetic energy of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are precise, which means 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

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

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer fades, the Warner Bros. banner releases the last chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. While the template is known, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: throwback unease, trauma as narrative engine, and eerie supernatural logic. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The next entry deepens the tale, thickens the animatronic pantheon, courting teens and the thirty something base. It lands in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

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

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are more runway than museum.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives 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.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Signals and Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming fright slate: installments, standalone ideas, together with A stacked Calendar calibrated for Scares

Dek The arriving horror calendar crams up front with a January pile-up, from there carries through midyear, and deep into the holiday stretch, balancing franchise firepower, creative pitches, and shrewd calendar placement. Studios with streamers are committing to right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that elevate these releases into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has grown into the sturdy release in studio slates, a segment that can break out when it breaks through and still cushion the exposure when it does not. After the 2023 year re-taught leaders that cost-conscious fright engines can shape pop culture, 2024 sustained momentum with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The momentum translated to the 2025 frame, where revivals and critical darlings showed there is room for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that translate worldwide. The end result for the 2026 slate is a programming that appears tightly organized across players, with intentional bunching, a balance of known properties and untested plays, and a sharpened strategy on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on premium on-demand and subscription services.

Marketers add the horror lane now acts as a schedule utility on the calendar. Horror can bow on most weekends, furnish a tight logline for previews and shorts, and outstrip with crowds that respond on Thursday nights and keep coming through the next pass if the film delivers. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup reflects trust in that logic. The slate commences with a heavy January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a September to October window that pushes into the fright window and beyond. The calendar also shows the ongoing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and expand at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across interlocking continuities and established properties. The companies are not just releasing another entry. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that conveys a new tone or a star attachment that links a upcoming film to a classic era. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the top original plays are returning to practical craft, physical gags and vivid settings. That combination hands 2026 a robust balance of assurance and freshness, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two prominent projects that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, marketing it as both a lineage transfer and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Production is active in Atlanta, and the story approach points to a fan-service aware approach without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Plan for a rollout rooted in signature symbols, intro reveals, and a rollout cadence slated for 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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will double down on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will pursue broad awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format supporting quick updates to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tight, soulful, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man purchases an artificial companion that unfolds into a killer companion. The date sets it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on uncanny live moments and short reels that melds attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are branded as event films, with a opaque teaser and a follow-up trailer set that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has shown that a blood-soaked, hands-on effects method can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror jolt that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is presenting as a fresh 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 mission to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around universe detail, and creature builds, elements that can fuel large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in minute detail and period speech, this time set against lycan legends. The company has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is warm.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles shift to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that fortifies both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends outside acquisitions with global acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in back-catalog play, using prominent placements, seasonal hubs, and editorial rows to maximize the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix originals and festival wins, finalizing horror entries toward the drop and elevating as drops releases with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a hybrid of tailored theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to acquire select projects with established auteurs or star packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for retention when the genre conversation ramps.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 arc 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 appeal is clear: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, retooled for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional cinema play for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the September weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Be ready for 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 hand in hand, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their membership.

Legacy titles versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate legacy awareness. The caveat, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French sensibility from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the director’s playful dread. 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 preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not preclude a simultaneous release test from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reorient and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, weblink with chapters filmed consecutively, permits marketing to tie installments through relationships and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror signal a continued emphasis on tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights creep and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft profiles and guild coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which favor convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

From winter to holidays

January is stacked. 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 brooding contrast amid larger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the range of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late winter and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s intelligent companion turns into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: tone-first 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 tough boss claw to survive on a rugged island as the power balance of power shifts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, driven by Cronin’s tactile craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting premise that twists the fright of a child’s shaky perspective. Rating: pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed and celebrity-led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody reboot that skewers in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 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: unrevealed for now. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household lashed to past horrors. Rating: pending. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. 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 antique diction and raw menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently 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, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, audio design, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is franchise muscle where it helps, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.