Age-old Horror surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across top digital platforms

This terrifying mystic horror tale from storyteller / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an timeless malevolence when unfamiliar people become victims in a malevolent trial. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish account of survival and forgotten curse that will revamp the fear genre this cool-weather season. Realized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and eerie fearfest follows five unknowns who are stirred stuck in a secluded cottage under the oppressive dominion of Kyra, a young woman occupied by a two-thousand-year-old biblical demon. Prepare to be ensnared by a narrative display that fuses visceral dread with biblical origins, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a enduring foundation in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is inverted when the monsters no longer emerge from elsewhere, but rather within themselves. This depicts the most sinister facet of all involved. The result is a psychologically brutal mind game where the tension becomes a brutal confrontation between right and wrong.


In a barren backcountry, five characters find themselves trapped under the possessive rule and domination of a unidentified character. As the ensemble becomes powerless to break her power, stranded and followed by terrors indescribable, they are confronted to face their darkest emotions while the hours without pity edges forward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion builds and friendships shatter, forcing each participant to evaluate their self and the nature of autonomy itself. The danger grow with every passing moment, delivering a horror experience that fuses mystical fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to explore raw dread, an presence born of forgotten ages, working through emotional fractures, and highlighting a will that erodes the self when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra called for internalizing something darker than pain. She is uninformed until the takeover begins, and that flip is terrifying because it is so deep.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that customers worldwide can survive this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has earned over a viral response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, bringing the film to horror fans worldwide.


Be sure to catch this heart-stopping descent into darkness. Face *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to see these terrifying truths about the soul.


For bonus footage, production news, and promotions from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across media channels and visit our horror hub.





Horror’s tipping point: 2025 U.S. Slate blends biblical-possession ideas, signature indie scares, plus IP aftershocks

Kicking off with life-or-death fear saturated with biblical myth to franchise returns and incisive indie visions, 2025 is emerging as the most stratified together with calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

Call it full, but it is also focused. leading studios hold down the year through proven series, as digital services flood the fall with unboxed visions paired with primordial unease. In parallel, the independent cohort is surfing the echoes from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween stays the prime week, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, yet in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are disciplined, and 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 accelerates.

Universal Pictures leads off the quarter with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Led by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer eases, the WB camp unveils the final movement from its cornerstone horror IP: 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. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re boards, and those signature textures resurface: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, with ghostly inner logic. This pass pushes higher, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, bridging teens and legacy players. It arrives in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

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. Directed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn 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 project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. 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 film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a calculated bet. No heavy handed lore. No canon weight. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

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

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy IP: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, steered by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

Trend Lines

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror resurges
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The next genre Year Ahead: follow-ups, fresh concepts, plus A brimming Calendar Built For goosebumps

Dek The incoming scare season crowds at the outset with a January wave, following that flows through the warm months, and running into the year-end corridor, blending series momentum, untold stories, and calculated counter-scheduling. The major players are focusing on tight budgets, box-office-first windows, and social-fueled campaigns that position these releases into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has solidified as the bankable counterweight in distribution calendars, a corner that can grow when it resonates and still limit the losses when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reassured studio brass that efficiently budgeted pictures can drive pop culture, 2024 maintained heat with filmmaker-forward plays and stealth successes. The momentum pushed into 2025, where revived properties and awards-minded projects highlighted there is capacity for varied styles, from legacy continuations to original one-offs that travel well. The takeaway for 2026 is a roster that presents tight coordination across studios, with intentional bunching, a mix of legacy names and new pitches, and a refocused eye on release windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and home streaming.

Buyers contend the horror lane now behaves like a swing piece on the schedule. The genre can kick off on a wide range of weekends, create a quick sell for trailers and TikTok spots, and overperform with patrons that come out on early shows and return through the next pass if the title hits. Exiting a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 configuration signals faith in that playbook. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January band, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while holding room for a late-year stretch that carries into late October and past Halloween. The schedule also highlights the stronger partnership of boutique distributors and platforms that can build gradually, ignite recommendations, and grow at the optimal moment.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and veteran brands. Big banners are not just releasing another follow-up. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that signals a new tone or a ensemble decision that anchors a incoming chapter to a classic era. At the alongside this, the writer-directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are celebrating hands-on technique, practical gags and concrete locations. That convergence hands 2026 a lively combination of home base and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount leads early with two spotlight titles that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, signaling it as both a baton pass and a return-to-roots character piece. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the story approach hints at a nostalgia-forward framework without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by iconic art, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after broad awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three separate pushes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that becomes a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with marketing at Universal likely to iterate on uncanny-valley stunts and bite-size content that blurs intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a name unveil to become an event moment closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are presented as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot offers Universal room to lead 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a raw, in-camera leaning approach can feel deluxe on a lean spend. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, preserving a evergreen supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both fans and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around canon, and creature work, elements that can stoke premium format interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on historical precision and language, this time set against lycan legends. The specialty arm has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that expands both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the later window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data points to it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using prominent placements, spooky hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival buys, timing horror entries closer to launch and turning into events releases with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of selective theatrical runs and accelerated platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown a willingness to secure select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 track with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clean: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, recalibrated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday slot to move out. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-first horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, 2026 tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a buzzed-about director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the packaging is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps help explain the method. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that observed windows did not deter a day-date move from paying off when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror popped in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they change perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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, with chapters shot consecutively, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

How the look and feel evolve

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate hint at a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature execution and sets, which align with booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid heavier IP. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the mix of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 supplies no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a slow-reveal plan and limited teasers that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and card redemption.

Embedded title notes

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s AI companion escalates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shimmering 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 tough boss push to survive on a remote island as the control dynamic tilts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 closed-door haunting story that interrogates the dread of a child’s fragile read. Rating: to be announced. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-grade and star-led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A genre lampoon that targets present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a fresh family anchored to long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 primordial menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three nuts-and-bolts forces shape this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and compressed schedules. 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming launches. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, offering breathing room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will share space across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in this page New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.