Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primordial evil, a pulse pounding shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on global platforms

This eerie supernatural thriller from dramatist / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an archaic dread when newcomers become proxies in a supernatural ritual. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving story of struggle and prehistoric entity that will revolutionize terror storytelling this scare season. Produced by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie tale follows five individuals who come to trapped in a cut-off hideaway under the aggressive dominion of Kyra, a mysterious girl inhabited by a antiquated Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be shaken by a audio-visual spectacle that melds bodily fright with mythic lore, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a well-established concept in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is radically shifted when the fiends no longer appear from external sources, but rather internally. This embodies the most sinister part of all involved. The result is a relentless moral showdown where the narrative becomes a merciless battle between heaven and hell.


In a haunting no-man's-land, five youths find themselves trapped under the ominous aura and overtake of a elusive person. As the ensemble becomes submissive to withstand her will, marooned and pursued by creatures inconceivable, they are confronted to acknowledge their greatest panics while the countdown harrowingly winds toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety builds and friendships implode, compelling each member to examine their core and the foundation of self-determination itself. The risk rise with every passing moment, delivering a fear-soaked story that harmonizes supernatural terror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to extract primal fear, an presence from prehistory, influencing fragile psyche, and wrestling with a entity that challenges autonomy when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra required summoning something darker than pain. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that shift is bone-chilling because it is so private.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering horror lovers no matter where they are can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its initial teaser, which has received over 100,000 views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, spreading the horror to horror fans worldwide.


Mark your calendar for this soul-jarring fall into madness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this launch day to witness these spiritual awakenings about the human condition.


For bonus footage, making-of footage, and reveals from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across social media and visit the movie’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate interlaces old-world possession, signature indie scares, in parallel with returning-series thunder

Ranging from grit-forward survival fare grounded in legendary theology and stretching into returning series paired with surgical indie voices, 2025 is emerging as the most stratified combined with carefully orchestrated year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors set cornerstones with established lines, in tandem streaming platforms flood the fall with fresh voices paired with ancient terrors. At the same time, the art-house flank is surfing the uplift of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are precise, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige fear returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s distribution arm starts the year with a marquee bet: a modernized Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, inside today’s landscape. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. set for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Under Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature 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 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: vintage toned fear, trauma centered writing, and eerie supernatural logic. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It bows in December, cornering year end horror.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror chamber piece fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

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

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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 looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No sequel clutter. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. 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, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Trends to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning 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 returns
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The new fright lineup: next chapters, Originals, And A brimming Calendar geared toward frights

Dek The emerging terror year builds from the jump with a January pile-up, subsequently stretches through the warm months, and carrying into the festive period, combining name recognition, novel approaches, and tactical alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that frame these films into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has solidified as the steady swing in studio lineups, a vertical that can spike when it breaks through and still protect the drag when it underperforms. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that low-to-mid budget entries can command the zeitgeist, 2024 sustained momentum with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum moved into the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is space for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that carry overseas. The end result for the 2026 slate is a slate that seems notably aligned across the industry, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of brand names and new pitches, and a renewed focus on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on paid VOD and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the space now behaves like a versatile piece on the grid. The genre can debut on virtually any date, provide a sharp concept for teasers and short-form placements, and lead with viewers that show up on Thursday previews and return through the sophomore frame if the release pays off. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores assurance in that logic. The slate opens with a front-loaded January stretch, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a September to October window that flows toward the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The grid also includes the expanded integration of specialized labels and subscription services that can platform a title, grow buzz, and scale up at the inflection point.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. Big banners are not just producing another entry. They are shaping as threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title design that flags a refreshed voice or a ensemble decision that connects a next entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the most anticipated originals are embracing physical effects work, real effects and site-specific worlds. That fusion yields 2026 a healthy mix of comfort and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a relay and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture points to a classic-referencing angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on classic imagery, character previews, and a staggered trailer plan targeting 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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt mass reach through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is crisp, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a packed window, with the marketing arm likely to reprise strange in-person beats and micro spots that interlaces affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a public title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, practical-first style can feel high-value on a tight budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror shot that leans into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio mounts two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is calling a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can accelerate PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

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 continues Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in obsessive craft and linguistic texture, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus has already set the date for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is strong.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that maximizes both launch urgency and subscriber lifts in the tail. Prime Video will mix licensed titles with global acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, spooky hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival additions, slotting horror entries near launch and eventizing releases with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to secure select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for sustained usage when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 sequence with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the holiday corridor to broaden. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception warrants. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, 2026 favors the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use legacy awareness. The question, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is elevating character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-inflected take from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add 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 clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the team and cast is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not hamper a same-day experiment from paying off when the brand was potent. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and elevate 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to keep assets alive without lulls.

How the look and feel evolve

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries point to a continued tilt 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 prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers grain and menace rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft journalism and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-referential reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which lend themselves to expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel key. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that shine in top rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week his comment is here structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a slow-reveal plan and limited disclosures that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s artificial companion grows into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: mood-led 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 unyielding boss push to survive on a cut-off island as the control balance turns and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fright, driven by Cronin’s tactile craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting premise that manipulates the panic of a child’s uncertain impressions. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody return that skewers modern genre fads and true crime fascinations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. 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 confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a fresh family snared by ancient dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 historical diction and primordial menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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

Why this year, why now

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage meme-ready beats from test screenings, select scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, providing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will jostle across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase 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 pace and range. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, 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, soundcraft, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.