Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

An bone-chilling occult scare-fest from creator / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primordial malevolence when outsiders become vehicles in a devilish ceremony. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing saga of continuance and prehistoric entity that will reimagine scare flicks this spooky time. Created by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and tone-heavy motion picture follows five unacquainted souls who snap to locked in a far-off structure under the oppressive grip of Kyra, a cursed figure controlled by a millennia-old sacred-era entity. Ready yourself to be seized by a motion picture event that blends raw fear with folklore, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a iconic motif in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is subverted when the dark entities no longer descend from a different plane, but rather internally. This represents the malevolent shade of each of them. The result is a emotionally raw identity crisis where the suspense becomes a constant push-pull between heaven and hell.


In a unforgiving terrain, five young people find themselves stuck under the dark force and overtake of a secretive entity. As the victims becomes incapable to break her command, disconnected and targeted by entities beyond reason, they are made to face their darkest emotions while the time coldly ticks onward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion builds and connections implode, prompting each cast member to question their values and the structure of free will itself. The tension surge with every minute, delivering a frightening tale that fuses paranormal dread with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dive into primal fear, an presence that existed before mankind, channeling itself through fragile psyche, and challenging a evil that forces self-examination when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra demanded embodying something more primal than sorrow. She is unseeing until the spirit seizes her, and that pivot is terrifying because it is so close.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing households from coast to coast can watch this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has racked up over strong viewer count.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, making the film to lovers of terror across nations.


Make sure to see this life-altering voyage through terror. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to survive these nightmarish insights about the human condition.


For featurettes, filmmaker commentary, and alerts from inside the story, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit our film’s homepage.





Modern horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule Mixes primeval-possession lore, underground frights, stacked beside tentpole growls

Across endurance-driven terror rooted in mythic scripture through to franchise returns together with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is coalescing into the richest paired with deliberate year for the modern era.

Call it full, but it is also focused. the big studios lay down anchors via recognizable brands, simultaneously digital services front-load the fall with debut heat plus primordial unease. On the festival side, the art-house flank is propelled by the uplift of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, as a result 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s distribution arm opens the year with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson returns, and those signature textures resurface: vintage toned fear, trauma in the foreground, with ghostly inner logic. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The new chapter enriches the lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. 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.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to 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. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror reemerges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

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

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming fear calendar year ahead: continuations, new stories, paired with A hectic Calendar aimed at chills

Dek: The brand-new genre calendar clusters up front with a January pile-up, subsequently unfolds through the mid-year, and continuing into the holiday frame, braiding franchise firepower, novel approaches, and data-minded counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and buzz-forward plans that shape genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has become the dependable tool in studio calendars, a pillar that can break out when it hits and still insulate the floor when it falls short. After the 2023 year proved to top brass that lean-budget entries can drive the national conversation, the following year carried the beat with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The upswing flowed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and critical darlings proved there is appetite for a variety of tones, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The combined impact for 2026 is a programming that shows rare alignment across players, with obvious clusters, a harmony of familiar brands and new pitches, and a revived strategy on theatrical windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and home streaming.

Schedulers say the horror lane now acts as a wildcard on the distribution slate. The genre can arrive on a wide range of weekends, create a easy sell for marketing and platform-native cuts, and outpace with demo groups that respond on Thursday previews and stick through the next pass if the title connects. Following a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout shows certainty in that dynamic. The calendar begins with a crowded January window, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a fall cadence that extends to Halloween and past the holiday. The map also shows the greater integration of specialty distributors and OTT outlets that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is series management across shared universes and established properties. Major shops are not just turning out another return. They are looking to package continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a art treatment that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a star attachment that links a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the creative teams behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to practical craft, physical gags and distinct locales. That alloy produces 2026 a robust balance of recognition and surprise, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount plants an early flag with two front-of-slate projects that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, steering it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a fan-service aware treatment without rehashing the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign stacked with iconic art, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will feature. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will go after broad awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick reframes to whatever drives trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated strategies. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is straightforward, tragic, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an machine companion that grows into a dangerous lover. The date nudges it to the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back odd public stunts and short reels that interlaces companionship and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s releases are branded as auteur events, with a teaser that holds back and a next wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The pre-Halloween slot offers Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has proven that a gritty, physical-effects centered execution can feel high-value on a middle budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror rush that emphasizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio launches two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a steady supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is billing as a fresh restart 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 charge to serve both players and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign creative around canon, and monster craft, elements that can accelerate premium booking interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by minute detail and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Windowing plans in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a pacing that enhances both first-week urgency and sign-up spikes in the after-window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with worldwide entries and small theatrical windows when the data points to it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in back-catalog play, using in-app campaigns, horror hubs, and featured rows to prolong the run on lifetime take. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival snaps, confirming horror entries closer to launch and elevating as drops releases with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a paired of targeted theatrical exposure and fast windowing that turns chatter to conversion. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with recognized filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly activity when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 arc with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is straightforward: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, refined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker this website lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the year-end corridor to broaden. That positioning has helped for prestige horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception merits. Watch for 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 jointly, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The preferred tactic is to present each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is emphasizing character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the package is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent-year comps frame the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that maintained windows did not prevent a same-day experiment from thriving when the brand was potent. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror over-performed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they shift POV and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, builds a path for marketing to link the films through character arcs and themes and to keep materials circulating without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The creative meetings behind the 2026 entries forecast a continued turn toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that centers texture and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in long-lead press and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature design and production design, which lend themselves to fan conventions and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is full. 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 foggy reset amid larger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the menu of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s digital partner shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unstable 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 unyielding boss claw to survive on a uninhabited island as the hierarchy inverts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, based on Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. 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 scenario that pipes the unease through a child’s unreliable POV. Rating: to be announced. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed and celebrity-led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satire sequel that riffs on hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 breaks out, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a fresh family tethered to older hauntings. Rating: undetermined. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-driven horror over action spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: active. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and elemental menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 lands now

Three grounded forces inform this lineup. First, production that slowed or shifted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 launches. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, managed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will jostle across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command 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

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is franchise muscle where it helps, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the this page party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.