Age-old Evil rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

A hair-raising paranormal thriller from scriptwriter / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primeval nightmare when strangers become puppets in a demonic struggle. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping narrative of overcoming and old world terror that will reimagine the horror genre this season. Helmed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and shadowy cinema piece follows five teens who suddenly rise caught in a wooded house under the dark sway of Kyra, a young woman occupied by a ancient sacred-era entity. Anticipate to be drawn in by a visual presentation that blends visceral dread with timeless legends, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a classic trope in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is inverted when the presences no longer originate from an outside force, but rather through their own souls. This marks the deepest version of each of them. The result is a gripping psychological battle where the conflict becomes a soul-crushing clash between moral forces.


In a bleak terrain, five characters find themselves isolated under the ominous force and infestation of a unknown spirit. As the victims becomes incapable to break her curse, stranded and targeted by spirits indescribable, they are forced to battle their deepest fears while the doomsday meter brutally moves toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension amplifies and relationships collapse, driving each member to rethink their personhood and the principle of free will itself. The intensity surge with every short lapse, delivering a fear-soaked story that merges demonic fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to channel pure dread, an evil born of forgotten ages, manipulating inner turmoil, and wrestling with a curse that dismantles free will when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra was centered on something rooted in terror. She is insensitive until the takeover begins, and that conversion is bone-chilling because it is so private.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring audiences anywhere can engage with this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its initial teaser, which has earned over 100K plays.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, taking the terror to thrill-seekers globally.


Be sure to catch this bone-rattling descent into hell. Face *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to face these unholy truths about the soul.


For film updates, director cuts, and social posts from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across social media and visit our film’s homepage.





The horror genre’s major pivot: the 2025 season U.S. release slate blends ancient-possession motifs, underground frights, together with Franchise Rumbles

Kicking off with life-or-death fear drawn from biblical myth and including IP renewals set beside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered plus deliberate year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. major banners stabilize the year through proven series, while digital services pack the fall with debut heat plus primordial unease. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is drafting behind the carry of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are disciplined, so 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal Pictures starts the year with a risk-forward move: a modernized Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in an immediate now. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. dated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Steered by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson is back, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The new chapter enriches the lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror chamber piece anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story with Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a clever angle. No heavy handed lore. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror retakes ground
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forward View: Fall saturation and a winter joker

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 terror calendar year ahead: returning titles, universe starters, And A hectic Calendar Built For chills

Dek The new horror cycle clusters in short order with a January glut, then flows through June and July, and well into the holiday frame, weaving series momentum, creative pitches, and data-minded counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are committing to smart costs, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that frame genre titles into four-quadrant talking points.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the bankable tool in studio lineups, a corner that can break out when it catches and still hedge the drag when it fails to connect. After 2023 signaled to leaders that efficiently budgeted chillers can lead the national conversation, the following year carried the beat with auteur-driven buzzy films and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum flowed into 2025, where revived properties and critical darlings signaled there is room for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to standalone ideas that travel well. The takeaway for 2026 is a run that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with intentional bunching, a spread of marquee IP and untested plays, and a recommitted stance on big-screen windows that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Marketers add the genre now operates like a swing piece on the programming map. The genre can arrive on a wide range of weekends, offer a clear pitch for previews and shorts, and outpace with ticket buyers that turn out on opening previews and return through the next pass if the release connects. Following a production delay era, the 2026 pattern reflects belief in that setup. The slate starts with a crowded January block, then plants flags in spring and early summer for balance, while keeping space for a late-year stretch that extends to holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The layout also highlights the increasing integration of indie distributors and OTT outlets that can launch in limited release, fuel WOM, and expand at the optimal moment.

A notable top-line trend is IP stewardship across interlocking continuities and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just greenlighting another installment. They are aiming to frame continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title design that flags a refreshed voice or a lead change that reconnects a new entry to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are doubling down on tactile craft, on-set effects and place-driven backdrops. That fusion yields 2026 a solid mix of trust and surprise, which is how the films export.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the heart, signaling it as both a handoff and a heritage-centered character study. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a fan-service aware mode without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Plan for a rollout stacked with franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will play up. As a summer relief option, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an AI companion that mutates into a perilous partner. The date places it at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to recreate off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that mixes attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the initial promo. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as creative events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot offers Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has shown that a visceral, practical-effects forward mix can feel high-value on a moderate cost. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is positioning as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both longtime followers and fresh viewers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around environmental design, and creature design, elements that can increase premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is favorable.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a pacing that elevates both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines acquired titles with global originals and limited cinema engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using timely promos, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival pickups, slotting horror entries near launch and eventizing arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of precision theatrical plays and rapid platforming that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to board select projects with established auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for sustained usage when the genre conversation swells.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane 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 promise is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern sonics and picture. 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 signaled a traditional cinema play for the title, an positive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the year-end corridor to open out. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their community.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, 2026 bends toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is centering character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French sensibility from a buzzed-about director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the deal build is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years clarify the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept clean windows did not obstruct a parallel release from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, director-craft horror punched above its weight in PLF. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they rotate 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 two-film strategy, with chapters shot in tandem, provides the means for marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without doldrums.

Technique and craft currents

The director conversations behind 2026 horror indicate a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that underscores aura and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a first look that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature design and production design, which are ideal for fan conventions and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. 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 macro-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the palette of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 stage summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s synthetic partner unfolds into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 hard-edged boss fight to survive on a rugged island as the power balance of power shifts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, shaped by Cronin’s in-camera craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting narrative that manipulates the fright of a child’s inconsistent senses. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that targets of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fervors. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 flares, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family bound to residual nightmares. Rating: undetermined. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an click to read more stress on survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBA. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: proceeding. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 ancient menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more structured 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, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will cluster 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 make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 midrange-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 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand gravity where needed, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.