Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a fear soaked shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

A chilling unearthly scare-fest from writer / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an long-buried dread when drifters become tools in a demonic game. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing account of resilience and forgotten curse that will revamp horror this harvest season. Realized by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and cinematic screenplay follows five people who awaken ensnared in a unreachable hideaway under the sinister dominion of Kyra, a tormented girl occupied by a time-worn scriptural evil. Ready yourself to be captivated by a filmic spectacle that intertwines intense horror with mythic lore, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a well-established motif in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is twisted when the entities no longer appear outside the characters, but rather within themselves. This embodies the most primal version of the victims. The result is a intense mental war where the tension becomes a perpetual clash between virtue and vice.


In a abandoned terrain, five figures find themselves confined under the malicious dominion and possession of a unidentified apparition. As the ensemble becomes vulnerable to evade her control, marooned and chased by evils indescribable, they are driven to deal with their darkest emotions while the time mercilessly ticks toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion mounts and friendships splinter, prompting each participant to doubt their identity and the philosophy of freedom of choice itself. The risk escalate with every tick, delivering a paranormal ride that connects otherworldly panic with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to explore primitive panic, an evil rooted in antiquity, operating within emotional fractures, and questioning a being that peels away humanity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra asked for exploring something far beyond human desperation. She is oblivious until the demon emerges, and that conversion is emotionally raw because it is so raw.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing households in all regions can face this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its initial teaser, which has collected over notable views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, offering the tale to thrill-seekers globally.


Witness this haunted trip into the unknown. Enter *Young & Cursed* this launch day to witness these fearful discoveries about free will.


For bonus footage, production insights, and alerts from the cast and crew, follow @YACMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit our horror hub.





Modern horror’s inflection point: 2025 in focus stateside slate integrates archetypal-possession themes, underground frights, and Franchise Rumbles

Moving from survivor-centric dread steeped in biblical myth through to legacy revivals plus acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most complex plus calculated campaign year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors bookend the months with known properties, as SVOD players crowd the fall with debut heat together with legend-coded dread. On another front, independent banners is carried on the tailwinds from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are calculated, thus 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium genre swings back

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with an audacious swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Led by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. targeting mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Helmed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline unveils the final movement from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and those signature textures resurface: 70s style chill, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The ante is higher this round, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Conceived 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 night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No swollen lore. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festivals as Springboards

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.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

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

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

What to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror swings back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forward View: Fall crush plus winter X factor

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The upcoming Horror release year: entries, non-franchise titles, plus A busy Calendar geared toward frights

Dek: The arriving horror season crams right away with a January crush, then unfolds through summer corridors, and running into the winter holidays, mixing series momentum, fresh ideas, and savvy offsets. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that pivot the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This category has grown into the consistent tool in studio calendars, a lane that can break out when it clicks and still mitigate the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year re-taught buyers that modestly budgeted chillers can dominate pop culture, 2024 kept energy high with signature-voice projects and surprise hits. The energy pushed into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and awards-minded projects signaled there is room for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to fresh IP that travel well. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with planned clusters, a pairing of household franchises and new packages, and a sharpened stance on exhibition windows that feed downstream value on premium rental and SVOD.

Executives say the category now operates like a utility player on the grid. Horror can premiere on virtually any date, create a quick sell for spots and UGC-friendly snippets, and punch above weight with demo groups that appear on early shows and hold through the second weekend if the movie works. In the wake of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs comfort in that playbook. The calendar gets underway with a loaded January corridor, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a fall cadence that runs into the fright window and into early November. The gridline also features the deeper integration of specialized labels and platforms that can platform a title, create conversation, and grow at the precise moment.

A companion trend is brand management across interlocking continuities and legacy franchises. Studios are not just making another installment. They are shaping as connection with a must-see charge, whether that is a art treatment that conveys a new tone or a lead change that bridges a next film to a original cycle. At the very same time, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are doubling down on hands-on technique, makeup and prosthetics and location-forward worlds. That blend affords the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and newness, which is what works overseas.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount marks the early tempo with two marquee bets that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a foundation-forward character-first story. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach signals a fan-service aware treatment without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. A campaign is expected anchored in iconic art, early character teases, and a staggered trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will generate wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format permitting quick pivots to whatever drives trend lines that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, melancholic, and commercial: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that grows into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to bring back odd public stunts and quick hits that threads affection and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title reveal to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His projects are framed as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives Universal room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has made clear that a in-your-face, practical-first style can feel elevated on a disciplined budget. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror jolt that embraces offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a consistent supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is presenting as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around canon, and creature builds, elements that can fuel IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by minute detail and archaic language, this time orbiting lycan weblink myth. The company has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is enthusiastic.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s releases head to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that boosts both FOMO and viewer acquisition in the downstream. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data supports it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog engagement, using editorial spots, spooky hubs, and programmed rows to lengthen the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and making event-like premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and speedy platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown appetite to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 lane with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is no-nonsense: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern audio and picture. 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 theatrical-first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, piloting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception warrants. Look for 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 concert, using mini theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Brands and originals

By weight, the 2026 slate tips toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The trade-off, as ever, is staleness. The workable fix is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is elevating character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-accented approach from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in horror era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the deal build is anchored enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years outline the model. In 2023, a cinema-first model that held distribution windows did not foreclose a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror over-performed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they rotate perspective and elevate scope. 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 double feature plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, permits marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to hold creative in the market without long breaks.

Craft and creative trends

The creative meetings behind the 2026 entries indicate a continued emphasis on real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that elevates texture and dread rather than VFX blitz, have a peek at these guys with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in long-lead features and department features before rolling out a teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta-horror reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature work and production design, which align with convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is heavy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid bigger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sticks.

Early-year through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genetic code. 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 sorrowing man’s artificial companion shifts into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: tone-first 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 prickly boss battle to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power swivels and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 intimate haunting story that pipes the unease through a little one’s unreliable point of view. Rating: pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satire sequel that riffs on today’s horror trends and true crime fixations. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new family snared by ancient dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survivalist horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 the 2026 timing works

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where value-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer 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 viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, tight deployments, 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 tactility, audio design, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.