Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives ancient dread, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across leading streamers

This frightening paranormal fright fest from writer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an archaic entity when drifters become vehicles in a supernatural ceremony. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense saga of continuance and archaic horror that will reimagine genre cinema this ghoul season. Realized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and tone-heavy film follows five young adults who arise stranded in a secluded cabin under the aggressive grip of Kyra, a tormented girl controlled by a two-thousand-year-old ancient fiend. Arm yourself to be hooked by a immersive presentation that blends instinctive fear with mystical narratives, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a historical pillar in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is challenged when the beings no longer develop from external sources, but rather deep within. This echoes the haunting part of each of them. The result is a emotionally raw mental war where the intensity becomes a perpetual tug-of-war between purity and corruption.


In a desolate wild, five friends find themselves caught under the evil force and infestation of a mysterious entity. As the victims becomes paralyzed to withstand her will, abandoned and attacked by forces mind-shattering, they are required to face their soulful dreads while the doomsday meter relentlessly draws closer toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust surges and relationships shatter, driving each cast member to reconsider their being and the structure of liberty itself. The stakes climb with every instant, delivering a horror experience that integrates mystical fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to extract ancestral fear, an curse born of forgotten ages, emerging via human fragility, and examining a curse that challenges autonomy when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was centered on something unfamiliar to reason. She is unseeing until the takeover begins, and that change is terrifying because it is so close.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that streamers across the world can enjoy this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original clip, which has received over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to international horror buffs.


Witness this cinematic trip into the unknown. Watch *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to explore these evil-rooted truths about human nature.


For film updates, production news, and updates from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across social media and visit the movie portal.





Today’s horror Turning Point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar melds legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, together with franchise surges

Beginning with fight-to-live nightmare stories grounded in legendary theology through to IP renewals set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified plus calculated campaign year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio powerhouses hold down the year with known properties, as digital services crowd the fall with emerging auteurs set against scriptural shivers. Across the art-house lane, the independent cohort is drafting behind the carry of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are calculated, so 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with a big gambit: a contemporary Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Led by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer winds down, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: old school creep, trauma as theme, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The follow up digs further into canon, stretches the animatronic parade, bridging teens and legacy players. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in 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. 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.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Watch for one or more of these 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. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 fear lineup: brand plays, non-franchise titles, and also A brimming Calendar calibrated for frights

Dek The fresh terror season loads right away with a January crush, subsequently extends through June and July, and continuing into the holiday frame, weaving marquee clout, novel approaches, and savvy counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are betting on smart costs, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that frame these pictures into all-audience topics.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has emerged as the surest release in studio calendars, a space that can accelerate when it catches and still safeguard the floor when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year showed top brass that lean-budget horror vehicles can galvanize the discourse, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and under-the-radar smashes. The energy flowed into 2025, where reboots and prestige plays made clear there is capacity for diverse approaches, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that play globally. The end result for 2026 is a roster that feels more orchestrated than usual across the industry, with intentional bunching, a mix of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a renewed stance on big-screen windows that feed downstream value on premium home window and subscription services.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now works like a versatile piece on the slate. Horror can open on numerous frames, yield a sharp concept for trailers and reels, and outpace with audiences that show up on first-look nights and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the release lands. Exiting a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 pattern reflects belief in that engine. The year kicks off with a weighty January band, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while holding room for a late-year stretch that reaches into Halloween and into early November. The layout also features the ongoing integration of indie arms and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, fuel WOM, and move wide at the precise moment.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. The players are not just greenlighting another follow-up. They are working to present story carry-over with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title presentation that suggests a new vibe or a casting choice that reconnects a incoming chapter to a initial period. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the marquee originals are championing in-camera technique, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That convergence yields the 2026 slate a solid mix of brand comfort and shock, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a back-to-basics character-first story. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a legacy-leaning approach without replaying the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive leaning on brand visuals, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will drive broad awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is crisp, sorrow-tinged, and commercial: a grieving man adopts an AI companion that evolves into a fatal companion. The date lines it up at More about the author the front of a packed window, with Universal’s team likely to recreate creepy live activations and snackable content that mixes devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a public title to become an marketing beat closer to the initial promo. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His entries are set up as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a later creative that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The spooky-season slot offers Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has demonstrated that a in-your-face, practical-effects forward mix can feel prestige on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that maximizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio lines up two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, preserving a consistent supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is presenting as a new take 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 well-defined brief to serve both longtime followers and fresh viewers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build artifacts around universe detail, and creature work, elements that can increase premium screens and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror defined by obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is warm.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal titles feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a tiered path that fortifies both debut momentum and sub growth in the downstream. Prime Video interleaves outside acquisitions with international acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in deep cuts, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on aggregate take. Netflix stays nimble about own-slate titles and festival additions, locking in horror entries near their drops and staging as events drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a staged of precision theatrical plays and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, refined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical rollout for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to move out. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate favors the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness marquee value. The trade-off, as ever, is fatigue. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a rising filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is grounded enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

The last three-year set clarify the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept streaming intact did not stop a day-date try from winning when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel new when they pivot perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to thread films through personae and themes and to this website hold creative in the market without long breaks.

Technique and craft currents

The shop talk behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that underscores aura and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for textured sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft features before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a imp source meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature and environment design, which are ideal for fan conventions and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that elevate disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is stacked. 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 somber counterpoint amid macro-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

February through May prepare summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a bridge slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can win the holiday when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s artificial companion unfolds into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 coalesces 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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: aura-driven 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 struggle to survive on a remote island as the pecking order turns and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fright, based on Cronin’s practical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that frames the panic through a little one’s unreliable perspective. Rating: to be announced. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal 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 satirical comeback that targets present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production booked 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 spreads, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family snared by older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on true survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 antique diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 lands now

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, providing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lean-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 use those gaps. 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

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

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.