Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up mythic darkness, a bone chilling horror feature, launching October 2025 across major streaming services

One eerie spiritual terror film from literary architect / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless entity when guests become tokens in a diabolical ordeal. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping portrayal of perseverance and primordial malevolence that will alter the fear genre this spooky time. Realized by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and eerie feature follows five individuals who awaken confined in a isolated shack under the sinister sway of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a timeless ancient fiend. Be warned to be seized by a audio-visual adventure that blends intense horror with arcane tradition, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a time-honored concept in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is challenged when the spirits no longer originate outside their bodies, but rather within themselves. This mirrors the haunting element of all involved. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the conflict becomes a soul-crushing face-off between good and evil.


In a unforgiving no-man's-land, five individuals find themselves cornered under the possessive presence and control of a secretive being. As the survivors becomes unable to withstand her command, disconnected and stalked by presences unfathomable, they are confronted to reckon with their soulful dreads while the deathwatch without pause pushes forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension escalates and alliances implode, coercing each soul to rethink their essence and the idea of freedom of choice itself. The intensity climb with every passing moment, delivering a nightmarish journey that integrates ghostly evil with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to awaken raw dread, an entity beyond time, feeding on our fears, and testing a being that questions who we are when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra called for internalizing something deeper than fear. She is uninformed until the invasion happens, and that conversion is harrowing because it is so intimate.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving streamers internationally can watch this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its intro video, which has garnered over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, making the film to global fright lovers.


Avoid skipping this unforgettable ride through nightmares. Enter *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to dive into these evil-rooted truths about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, director cuts, and reveals from those who lived it, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: 2025 across markets domestic schedule braids together Mythic Possession, Indie Shockers, plus franchise surges

Beginning with last-stand terror steeped in near-Eastern lore and onward to installment follow-ups as well as focused festival visions, 2025 stands to become the most dimensioned together with calculated campaign year of the last decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. top-tier distributors stabilize the year with established lines, in parallel subscription platforms prime the fall with new voices set against mythic dread. At the same time, independent banners is surfing the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are disciplined, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: High-craft horror returns

The top end is active. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s slate leads off the quarter with a big gambit: a modernized Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a modern-day environment. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. timed for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, Warner Bros. sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: period tinged dread, trauma as text, along with eerie supernatural rules. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It opens in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable with Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No canon weight. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. 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 is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Series Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror swings back
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming fear year to come: brand plays, original films, alongside A stacked Calendar Built For nightmares

Dek The incoming horror season lines up from day one with a January traffic jam, then carries through the summer months, and pushing into the festive period, combining name recognition, creative pitches, and smart counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are embracing responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that shape genre titles into cross-demo moments.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror has emerged as the dependable tool in release plans, a segment that can accelerate when it breaks through and still cushion the drawdown when it stumbles. After 2023 reminded greenlighters that cost-conscious shockers can own the national conversation, 2024 maintained heat with festival-darling auteurs and stealth successes. The momentum pushed into the 2025 frame, where returns and awards-minded projects signaled there is capacity for a spectrum, from sequel tracks to original features that perform internationally. The end result for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across studios, with intentional bunching, a blend of established brands and new packages, and a renewed attention on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital and home streaming.

Executives say the space now behaves like a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can roll out on open real estate, create a tight logline for spots and short-form placements, and lead with fans that turn out on Thursday nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the release works. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 setup exhibits belief in that playbook. The calendar opens with a weighty January window, then targets spring into early summer for balance, while saving space for a autumn push that stretches into spooky season and past Halloween. The calendar also includes the greater integration of indie distributors and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

An added macro current is legacy care across shared IP webs and storied titles. Big banners are not just producing another follow-up. They are trying to present lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title design that signals a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that reconnects a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the most watched originals are favoring practical craft, on-set effects and distinct locales. That mix provides the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount leads early with two marquee entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a nostalgia-forward framework without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by heritage visuals, character previews, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever tops the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that escalates into a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s campaign likely to revisit odd public stunts and snackable content that blurs affection and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an earned moment closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are presented as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives the studio 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a gritty, practical-effects forward strategy can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is calling a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 clearer mandate to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around lore, and creature effects, elements that can lift premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

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 follows Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in meticulous craft and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that expands both FOMO and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video stitches together catalogue additions with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using curated hubs, October hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about internal projects and festival acquisitions, locking in horror entries toward the drop and making event-like premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a dual-phase of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, refined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a traditional cinema play for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the October weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then using the year-end corridor to move out. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by 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 precision theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, 2026 skews toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The risk, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-flavored turn from a new voice. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is recognizable enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps clarify the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that preserved streaming windows did not deter a dual release from winning when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The production chatter behind this year’s genre signal a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at red-band excess, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster realization and design, which work nicely for fan conventions and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is crowded. 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 atmospheric change-up amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes 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 meaningful, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring build the summer base. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can play the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout 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 carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces 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 bereaved man’s digital partner evolves into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss try to survive on a isolated island as the power balance tilts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, anchored by Cronin’s hands-on craft and creeping 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 domestic haunting scenario that frames the panic through a kid’s wavering perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: major-studio and A-list fronted supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satire sequel that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fixations. 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 see here new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a unlucky family linked to old terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on classic survival-horror tone over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and elemental fear. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three execution-level forces drive this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, clearing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will compete across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and movies 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 stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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 year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, audio design, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.