Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a fear soaked thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An hair-raising ghostly fright fest from scriptwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an long-buried curse when newcomers become vehicles in a fiendish maze. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking chronicle of survival and mythic evil that will reshape the fear genre this autumn. Directed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and claustrophobic thriller follows five young adults who are stirred caught in a far-off house under the menacing command of Kyra, a female lead inhabited by a millennia-old biblical demon. Anticipate to be immersed by a cinematic presentation that fuses visceral dread with mythic lore, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary trope in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is flipped when the monsters no longer appear from a different plane, but rather from within. This represents the deepest aspect of every character. The result is a harrowing mind game where the conflict becomes a unforgiving tug-of-war between good and evil.


In a wilderness-stricken landscape, five souls find themselves imprisoned under the sinister force and inhabitation of a enigmatic spirit. As the protagonists becomes helpless to escape her control, stranded and tracked by evils beyond reason, they are cornered to battle their raw vulnerabilities while the moments without pity counts down toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety grows and links shatter, urging each cast member to reconsider their true nature and the idea of volition itself. The intensity intensify with every instant, delivering a cinematic nightmare that intertwines supernatural terror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to extract raw dread, an darkness beyond time, operating within mental cracks, and wrestling with a spirit that tests the soul when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was centered on something beneath mortal despair. She is unaware until the haunting manifests, and that change is haunting because it is so deep.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audience access beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing customers across the world can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its initial teaser, which has attracted over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, offering the tale to a worldwide audience.


Experience this mind-warping fall into madness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to explore these terrifying truths about the mind.


For bonus footage, director cuts, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across media channels and visit the movie portal.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate Mixes archetypal-possession themes, art-house nightmares, together with series shake-ups

Spanning last-stand terror suffused with ancient scripture as well as IP renewals in concert with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered combined with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Top studios set cornerstones with familiar IP, while premium streamers prime the fall with unboxed visions set against ancient terrors. In the indie lane, festival-forward creators is catching the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are exacting, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s schedule fires the first shot with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

By late summer, the Warner lot sets loose the finale inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Next is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson returns, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma centered writing, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The follow up digs further into canon, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Plays: Economy, maximum dread

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

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

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Franchise Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, from Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Signals and Trends

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 surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming genre calendar year ahead: Sequels, universe starters, and also A loaded Calendar calibrated for chills

Dek The current horror year crams immediately with a January traffic jam, then carries through the mid-year, and far into the December corridor, combining series momentum, new voices, and shrewd counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are relying on cost discipline, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that frame the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has grown into the sturdy lever in distribution calendars, a lane that can accelerate when it connects and still hedge the floor when it stumbles. After 2023 showed buyers that disciplined-budget fright engines can own mainstream conversation, 2024 extended the rally with director-led heat and slow-burn breakouts. The carry translated to the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers confirmed there is an opening for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to fresh IP that export nicely. The combined impact for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across the field, with defined corridors, a mix of marquee IP and new packages, and a refocused stance on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Marketers add the genre now performs as a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can debut on many corridors, provide a grabby hook for spots and social clips, and outpace with moviegoers that come out on Thursday nights and stick through the second frame if the picture satisfies. After a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 configuration shows assurance in that engine. The calendar launches with a heavy January band, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while leaving room for a autumn push that pushes into All Hallows period and beyond. The grid also includes the increasing integration of specialized labels and home platforms that can build gradually, ignite recommendations, and roll out at the timely point.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across shared universes and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just producing another sequel. They are shaping as lineage with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that announces a tonal shift or a star attachment that bridges a latest entry to a first wave. At the same time, the creative teams behind the top original plays are celebrating hands-on technique, practical gags and specific settings. That pairing offers the 2026 slate a confident blend of brand comfort and surprise, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character study. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture points to a throwback-friendly bent without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout fueled by iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a summer alternative, this one will chase wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three differentiated plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is efficient, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man adopts an AI companion that escalates into a fatal companion. The date sets it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to replay strange in-person beats and micro spots that interweaves longing and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a official title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are branded as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame creates space for Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a raw, physical-effects centered strategy can feel deluxe on a mid-range budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror surge that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is presenting as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around mythos, and creature work, elements that can boost PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in immersive craft and historical speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre slate head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that enhances both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video will mix third-party pickups with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and collection rows to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a two-step of precision releases and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 track with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clear: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to move out. That positioning has paid off for craft-driven horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception allows. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using boutique theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their membership.

Known brands versus new stories

By tilt, 2026 is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is audience fatigue. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is steady enough to generate pre-sales and early previews.

The last three-year set frame the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a same-day experiment from succeeding useful reference when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reorient and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, allows marketing to thread films through character web and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without doldrums.

Behind-the-camera trends

The shop talk behind these films telegraph a continued emphasis on practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that highlights grain and menace rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and generates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta inflection that centers an original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster aesthetics and world-building, which align with fan conventions and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

Calendar cadence

January is full. 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 foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the palette of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Winter into spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now supports 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can deliver 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 cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s artificial companion unfolds into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns 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: Complete with theatrical path. 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 severe boss push to survive on a isolated island as the control dynamic reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fright, shaped by Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting setup that toys with the horror of a child’s wobbly interpretations. Rating: to be announced. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-supported and star-led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A genre lampoon that pokes at in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further widens again, with a different family lashed to ancient dread. Rating: TBD. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-first horror over action spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: not yet rated. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 and why now

Three practical forces organize this lineup. First, production that downshifted or rearranged in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, managed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will line up across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 sleeper overperformer 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and camera work 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 Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand heft where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.