Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 across premium platforms

One blood-curdling paranormal horror tale from screenwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an age-old force when unrelated individuals become conduits in a fiendish ceremony. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping portrayal of endurance and mythic evil that will reimagine the horror genre this October. Created by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and atmospheric thriller follows five lost souls who suddenly rise stranded in a unreachable hideaway under the aggressive dominion of Kyra, a mysterious girl controlled by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Prepare to be captivated by a filmic ride that harmonizes instinctive fear with mythic lore, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a time-honored concept in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is radically shifted when the fiends no longer form outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This illustrates the most hidden version of each of them. The result is a riveting mind game where the intensity becomes a ongoing conflict between moral forces.


In a forsaken forest, five figures find themselves imprisoned under the dark effect and spiritual invasion of a elusive figure. As the ensemble becomes submissive to resist her will, cut off and chased by unknowns beyond comprehension, they are confronted to battle their inner demons while the seconds brutally ticks onward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread intensifies and friendships fracture, driving each survivor to doubt their existence and the principle of autonomy itself. The tension magnify with every short lapse, delivering a scare-fueled ride that weaves together otherworldly suspense with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to draw upon ancestral fear, an power rooted in antiquity, feeding on our fears, and testing a evil that peels away humanity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra was centered on something more primal than sorrow. She is oblivious until the haunting manifests, and that transformation is terrifying because it is so deep.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving fans anywhere can experience this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, offering the tale to lovers of terror across nations.


Mark your calendar for this haunted path of possession. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these chilling revelations about free will.


For sneak peeks, extra content, and announcements from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit the official digital haunt.





Contemporary horror’s major pivot: the year 2025 domestic schedule integrates ancient-possession motifs, microbudget gut-punches, set against Franchise Rumbles

Spanning survivor-centric dread grounded in scriptural legend and onward to IP renewals together with focused festival visions, 2025 is shaping up as the richest along with deliberate year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios plant stakes across the year with known properties, while premium streamers stack the fall with new perspectives alongside mythic dread. In the indie lane, the independent cohort is buoyed by the kinetic energy of 2024’s record festival wave. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are disciplined, which means 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner fires the first shot with a confident swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a crisp modern milieu. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. dated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. This pass pushes higher, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It books December, pinning the winter close.

Digital Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

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

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and helmed by 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. 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. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Key Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror ascends again
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forward View: Fall crush plus winter X factor

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The new fear Year Ahead: installments, new stories, as well as A packed Calendar engineered for goosebumps

Dek: The emerging scare calendar stacks at the outset with a January wave, before it carries through the mid-year, and well into the winter holidays, weaving series momentum, new concepts, and shrewd counterplay. Studios with streamers are focusing on efficient budgets, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that position horror entries into mainstream chatter.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The field has turned into the predictable move in distribution calendars, a genre that can lift when it breaks through and still protect the losses when it falls short. After the 2023 year reminded strategy teams that mid-range scare machines can shape cultural conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The run translated to the 2025 frame, where reboots and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is demand for varied styles, from series extensions to director-led originals that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the market, with defined corridors, a blend of known properties and untested plays, and a re-energized stance on release windows that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and OTT platforms.

Marketers add the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the programming map. The genre can kick off on most weekends, offer a sharp concept for marketing and shorts, and overperform with demo groups that line up on preview nights and continue through the second frame if the entry lands. Exiting a production delay era, the 2026 mapping demonstrates faith in that engine. The slate commences with a loaded January stretch, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a fall cadence that connects to late October and into the next week. The gridline also spotlights the expanded integration of specialty distributors and streamers that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and move wide at the precise moment.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across linked properties and legacy IP. Studios are not just rolling another chapter. They are shaping as connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a reframed mood or a casting pivot that binds a next film to a heyday. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing practical craft, practical effects and grounded locations. That convergence produces the 2026 slate a robust balance of assurance and freshness, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket bets that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the focus, angling it as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered relationship-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a memory-charged approach without looping the last two entries’ family thread. Count on a promo wave fueled by franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a promo sequence timed to late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will foreground. As a summer alternative, this one will seek wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever tops trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is efficient, soulful, and concept-forward: a grieving man activates an virtual partner that becomes a deadly partner. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit odd public stunts and brief clips that interlaces affection and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His entries are sold as signature events, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date opens a lane to take 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a visceral, practical-effects forward strategy can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is calling a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around lore, and creature work, elements that can lift large-format demand and convention buzz.

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 sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on textural authenticity and archaic language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The company has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform plans for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a tiered path that enhances both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines outside acquisitions with international acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in archive usage, using featured rows, October hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and elevating as drops premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a dual-phase of limited theatrical footprints and accelerated platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on horror-fan channels in imp source the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to board select projects with recognized filmmakers or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for platform stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 track with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is simple: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is audience fatigue. The near-term solution is to brand each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-flavored turn from a hot helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Past-three-year patterns make sense of the logic. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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, creates space for marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind these films signal a continued lean toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in craft profiles and department features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and sparks shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which align with convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

Annual flow

January is heavy. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the menu of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables my review here clean play for each if word of mouth spreads.

Early-year through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now hosts 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner turns into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes 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 push to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to horror, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting narrative that teases the unease of a child’s shaky point of view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-built and toplined ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that riffs on current genre trends and true crime fervors. Rating: pending. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 ignites, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a different family linked to long-buried horrors. Rating: pending. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three nuts-and-bolts forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-slotted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 landings. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 underdog chase 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, optimized 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, sonics, and imagery 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, Ready To Roar

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand heft where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.