Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient terror, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across major platforms

An chilling spectral suspense film from writer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an prehistoric curse when newcomers become proxies in a diabolical contest. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving portrayal of survival and mythic evil that will redefine horror this harvest season. Produced by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody story follows five individuals who suddenly rise stuck in a off-grid lodge under the oppressive sway of Kyra, a cursed figure dominated by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Arm yourself to be immersed by a motion picture event that intertwines visceral dread with mythic lore, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a enduring pillar in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is inverted when the fiends no longer develop externally, but rather from their psyche. This marks the grimmest part of the group. The result is a harrowing mental war where the narrative becomes a ongoing push-pull between right and wrong.


In a abandoned no-man's-land, five young people find themselves trapped under the unholy grip and domination of a enigmatic person. As the victims becomes unresisting to resist her curse, exiled and preyed upon by spirits beyond reason, they are obligated to encounter their core terrors while the time brutally counts down toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust builds and connections splinter, urging each participant to reflect on their values and the idea of independent thought itself. The consequences climb with every heartbeat, delivering a terror ride that harmonizes paranormal dread with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to explore ancestral fear, an curse that existed before mankind, feeding on soul-level flaws, and questioning a power that threatens selfhood when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant evoking something beneath mortal despair. She is in denial until the invasion happens, and that shift is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing subscribers no matter where they are can survive this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original promo, which has earned over a viral response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, extending the thrill to global fright lovers.


Do not miss this bone-rattling exploration of dread. Confront *Young & Cursed* this launch day to confront these ghostly lessons about our species.


For previews, director cuts, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your socials and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 cycle U.S. rollouts interlaces archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, in parallel with franchise surges

Beginning with endurance-driven terror suffused with legendary theology and onward to franchise returns set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most stratified and precision-timed year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. top-tier distributors bookend the months with franchise anchors, while streaming platforms saturate the fall with emerging auteurs set against old-world menace. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is fueled by the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, distinctly in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are precise, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal banner sets the tone with a confident swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a clear present-tense world. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer fades, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re teams, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma as text, plus otherworld rules that chill. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It arrives in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Firsts: No Budget, No Problem

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Penned and steered 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. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 bloated mythology. No canon weight. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy IP: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

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 hits late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, steered by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Trend Lines

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror retakes ground
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. 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.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The coming 2026 fear release year: continuations, original films, together with A brimming Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The new genre year crams at the outset with a January cluster, from there extends through summer, and continuing into the holiday frame, braiding IP strength, fresh ideas, and well-timed counterplay. The major players are leaning into responsible budgets, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that shape these offerings into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror filmmaking has emerged as the surest counterweight in distribution calendars, a pillar that can break out when it catches and still cushion the floor when it under-delivers. After 2023 reminded executives that low-to-mid budget pictures can command the zeitgeist, the following year sustained momentum with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The tailwind carried into 2025, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries showed there is capacity for varied styles, from returning installments to fresh IP that perform internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that seems notably aligned across companies, with purposeful groupings, a spread of legacy names and fresh ideas, and a refocused focus on box-office windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the category now works like a versatile piece on the distribution slate. The genre can roll out on many corridors, generate a simple premise for spots and shorts, and exceed norms with demo groups that respond on Thursday nights and continue through the next pass if the entry hits. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores conviction in that logic. The slate begins with a loaded January schedule, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a late-year stretch that pushes into the Halloween frame and past Halloween. The grid also illustrates the expanded integration of specialized labels and home platforms that can platform and widen, create conversation, and move wide at the sweet spot.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and legacy franchises. The studios are not just greenlighting another installment. They are shaping as story carry-over with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that flags a new vibe or a cast configuration that bridges a latest entry to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the visionaries behind the most watched originals are embracing practical craft, physical gags and grounded locations. That blend hands the 2026 slate a strong blend of familiarity and unexpected turns, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount fires first with two prominent plays that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, positioning the film as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-forward chapter. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the tonal posture indicates a roots-evoking mode without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive centered on recognizable motifs, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will go after mainstream recognition through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick shifts to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three specific entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is efficient, tragic, and commercial: a grieving man adopts an artificial companion that grows into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to renew uncanny live moments and quick hits that interlaces romance and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s pictures are set up as event films, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, makeup-driven mix can feel elevated on a tight budget. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror hit that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio books two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is positioning as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both loyalists and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build artifacts around canon, and creature work, elements that can lift premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in immersive craft and language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The company has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is enthusiastic.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that fortifies both premiere heat and trial spikes in the later window. Prime Video interleaves library titles with global pickups and small theatrical windows when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library curation, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and curated rows to extend momentum on lifetime take. Netflix remains opportunistic about in-house releases and festival deals, confirming horror entries near their drops and coalescing around drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of precision releases and prompt platform moves that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has been willing to board select projects with acclaimed directors or star-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is tight: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, updated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late-season weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception allows. Plan on 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 concert, using mini theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 skews toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The question, as ever, is fatigue. The operating solution is to brand each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a rising filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and auteur plays keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the package is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and early previews.

Three-year comps make sense of the model. In 2023, a theater-first model that held distribution windows did not stop a parallel release from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot in tandem, lets marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to continue assets in field without lulls.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The production chatter behind the year’s horror suggest a continued preference for in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that highlights aura and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and produces shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which lend themselves to fan conventions and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, this content with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is crowded. Universal’s 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 atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps 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 formidable, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 stage summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s algorithmic partner escalates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 difficult boss work to survive on a isolated island as the chain of command upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to horror, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting piece that interrogates the panic of a child’s fragile read. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satire sequel that teases of-the-moment horror beats and true crime preoccupations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 erupts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a young family snared by past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on true survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: moving forward. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental menace. Rating: pending. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why this year, why now

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue this contact form 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. Expect a healthy 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sonics, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.