Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives age-old dread, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

This hair-raising supernatural suspense story from author / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an long-buried curse when guests become pawns in a hellish experiment. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving story of living through and prehistoric entity that will alter the horror genre this scare season. Guided by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and immersive cinema piece follows five figures who suddenly rise caught in a wooded structure under the unfriendly command of Kyra, a female presence haunted by a antiquated biblical force. Prepare to be gripped by a audio-visual event that melds raw fear with mystical narratives, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a time-honored pillar in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is twisted when the demons no longer emerge outside the characters, but rather inside them. This embodies the haunting aspect of each of them. The result is a bone-chilling internal warfare where the events becomes a brutal push-pull between purity and corruption.


In a abandoned no-man's-land, five souls find themselves caught under the malevolent sway and inhabitation of a mysterious entity. As the youths becomes submissive to reject her command, exiled and tormented by forces unnamable, they are made to endure their raw vulnerabilities while the hours relentlessly ticks onward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease deepens and friendships disintegrate, compelling each member to contemplate their existence and the idea of conscious will itself. The pressure climb with every heartbeat, delivering a chilling narrative that harmonizes ghostly evil with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to extract basic terror, an malevolence beyond recorded history, working through inner turmoil, and examining a power that threatens selfhood when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant channeling something deeper than fear. She is unaware until the takeover begins, and that transition is terrifying because it is so unshielded.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering horror lovers in all regions can enjoy this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first preview, which has received over 100,000 views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, presenting the nightmare to global fright lovers.


Witness this unforgettable fall into madness. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to see these nightmarish insights about the human condition.


For teasers, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across platforms and visit youngandcursed.com.





Modern horror’s major pivot: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate Mixes biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Beginning with life-or-death fear infused with primordial scripture and including legacy revivals and incisive indie visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned together with blueprinted year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Top studios are anchoring the year with known properties, in tandem premium streamers front-load the fall with discovery plays and ancestral chills. On the festival side, independent banners is carried on the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A fat September–October lane is customary now, yet in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are precise, therefore 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige terror resurfaces

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 doubles down.

Universal Pictures starts the year with an audacious swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, instead in a current-day frame. Under director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Led by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and 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. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

Toward summer’s end, the WB camp sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The bar is raised this go, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With cinemas leaning into known IP, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by 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 chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

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

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. 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 aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming fright release year: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, plus A packed Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek: The current scare year stacks early with a January pile-up, then flows through summer corridors, and running into the winter holidays, marrying brand equity, new voices, and calculated offsets. Studios and platforms are leaning into responsible budgets, cinema-first plans, and shareable marketing that shape these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has emerged as the consistent move in release strategies, a vertical that can surge when it performs and still insulate the drag when it does not. After 2023 re-taught strategy teams that disciplined-budget horror vehicles can own the national conversation, 2024 maintained heat with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The energy extended into 2025, where revivals and festival-grade titles signaled there is space for many shades, from series extensions to original features that scale internationally. The result for 2026 is a grid that shows rare alignment across studios, with mapped-out bands, a combination of household franchises and new pitches, and a revived attention on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and digital services.

Marketers add the horror lane now operates like a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can debut on virtually any date, offer a quick sell for marketing and shorts, and overperform with demo groups that come out on early shows and maintain momentum through the next pass if the title hits. In the wake of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 rhythm demonstrates trust in that engine. The year begins with a heavy January stretch, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while keeping space for a fall cadence that pushes into late October and beyond. The program also includes the continuing integration of arthouse labels and SVOD players that can develop over weeks, create conversation, and broaden at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is brand management across connected story worlds and long-running brands. Major shops are not just producing another entry. They are looking to package brand continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a art treatment that announces a recalibrated tone or a casting pivot that ties a latest entry to a initial period. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the most watched originals are celebrating in-camera technique, physical gags and distinct locales. That alloy yields 2026 a healthy mix of home base and surprise, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the heart, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture points to a roots-evoking mode without looping the last two entries’ family thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a tease cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will spotlight. As a counterweight in summer, this one will hunt large awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format permitting quick turns to whatever shapes trend lines that spring.

Universal has three unique plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tidy, sorrow-tinged, and commercial: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that grows into a lethal partner. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to bring back uncanny live moments and short reels that melds devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a public title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are set up as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that define feel without revealing the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor affords Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has shown that a blood-soaked, hands-on effects aesthetic can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Position this as a hard-R summer horror blast that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, sustaining a dependable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is positioning as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both loyalists and fresh viewers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build marketing units around environmental design, and creature effects, elements that can accelerate format premiums and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on careful craft and period language, this time set against lycan legends. The specialty arm has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is warm.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on stable tracks. The studio’s horror films window into copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a structure that fortifies both opening-weekend urgency and subscription bumps in the late-window. Prime Video combines outside acquisitions with cross-border buys and short theatrical plays when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library engagement, using prominent placements, fright rows, and staff picks to lengthen the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix originals and festival buys, scheduling horror entries near launch and making event-like debuts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a tiered of selective theatrical runs and prompt platform moves that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or marquee packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 track 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 proposition is straightforward: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, retooled for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a traditional cinema play for the title, an good sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, marshalling the project through select festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to scale. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-driven genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, 2026 tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to present each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-inflected take from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and talent-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is comforting enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set frame the this website logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept clean windows did not block a day-date move from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, director-craft horror hit big in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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 shot in tandem, enables marketing to cross-link entries through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without doldrums.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries signal a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that emphasizes creep and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature craft and set design, which play well in booth activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel definitive. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid heftier brand moves. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the range of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a peekaboo tease plan and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s artificial companion escalates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 imp source ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 encounter a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss fight to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order flips and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fear, shaped by Cronin’s material craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


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 fear of a child’s fragile POV. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons current genre trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a different family tethered to returning horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on classic survival-horror tone over action fireworks. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: underway. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 period language and elemental menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 lands now

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that slowed or rearranged in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter 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 placements. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on repeatable beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where modest-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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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. 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a feast, 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 icy, 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 escalate across the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, aural design, and visuals 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

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is IP strength where it matters, new vision where it lands, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the chills sell the seats.