Primordial Terror Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising chiller, debuting Oct 2025 on major platforms

A hair-raising supernatural scare-fest from writer / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an primeval curse when drifters become puppets in a malevolent ritual. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing episode of resilience and primeval wickedness that will remodel fear-driven cinema this autumn. Guided by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and tone-heavy motion picture follows five young adults who arise imprisoned in a cut-off wooden structure under the hostile grip of Kyra, a female lead consumed by a time-worn biblical force. Prepare to be hooked by a screen-based spectacle that integrates raw fear with biblical origins, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a enduring tradition in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is turned on its head when the monsters no longer appear from external sources, but rather from within. This represents the grimmest aspect of the protagonists. The result is a psychologically brutal mind game where the conflict becomes a soul-crushing clash between purity and corruption.


In a desolate no-man's-land, five youths find themselves cornered under the ominous control and haunting of a uncanny apparition. As the protagonists becomes incapable to oppose her influence, left alone and tracked by presences ungraspable, they are confronted to wrestle with their soulful dreads while the deathwatch without pause draws closer toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease deepens and friendships collapse, prompting each participant to evaluate their true nature and the structure of personal agency itself. The risk grow with every instant, delivering a frightening tale that harmonizes supernatural terror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dig into pure dread, an malevolence rooted in antiquity, manipulating our weaknesses, and dealing with a evil that threatens selfhood when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra needed manifesting something rooted in terror. She is oblivious until the spirit seizes her, and that metamorphosis is harrowing because it is so emotional.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing viewers around the globe can get immersed in this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has been viewed over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, delivering the story to global fright lovers.


Do not miss this mind-warping journey into fear. Confront *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to acknowledge these haunting secrets about the psyche.


For previews, production insights, and announcements from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s watershed moment: 2025 for genre fans American release plan fuses Mythic Possession, underground frights, paired with brand-name tremors

Kicking off with grit-forward survival fare grounded in primordial scripture and onward to franchise returns and focused festival visions, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered along with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses hold down the year with familiar IP, as platform operators flood the fall with fresh voices paired with mythic dread. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is drafting behind the afterglow from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are targeted, which means 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: High-craft horror returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the base, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal banner leads off the quarter with a confident swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Steered by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer winds down, the Warner Bros. banner rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re teams, and the memorable motifs return: vintage toned fear, trauma as text, and eerie supernatural logic. This time, the stakes are raised, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The next entry deepens the tale, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It books December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and directed 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 darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

What to Watch

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning 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 serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming scare Year Ahead: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, together with A packed Calendar tailored for chills

Dek The incoming horror season crams at the outset with a January traffic jam, after that extends through the summer months, and carrying into the winter holidays, mixing brand heft, original angles, and savvy counterweight. Studios with streamers are betting on cost discipline, theatrical leads, and viral-minded pushes that shape these releases into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The field has grown into the surest release in studio slates, a space that can accelerate when it breaks through and still limit the drag when it stumbles. After 2023 re-taught leaders that disciplined-budget horror vehicles can own pop culture, 2024 continued the surge with visionary-driven titles and slow-burn breakouts. The energy rolled into the 2025 frame, where returns and prestige plays signaled there is appetite for different modes, from sequel tracks to fresh IP that perform internationally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a grid that presents tight coordination across the market, with mapped-out bands, a harmony of known properties and novel angles, and a recommitted focus on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on PVOD and SVOD.

Buyers contend the genre now serves as a wildcard on the release plan. Horror can launch on virtually any date, furnish a grabby hook for teasers and reels, and punch above weight with patrons that line up on preview nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the title works. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup exhibits assurance in that setup. The year launches with a thick January band, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a fall run that pushes into the Halloween frame and into the next week. The layout also reflects the stronger partnership of specialized labels and OTT outlets that can grow from platform, spark evangelism, and move wide at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is legacy care across brand ecosystems and long-running brands. Big banners are not just mounting another sequel. They are looking to package ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a logo package that signals a recalibrated tone or a lead change that binds a fresh chapter to a original cycle. At the concurrently, the visionaries behind the most buzzed-about originals are doubling down on material texture, practical gags and distinct locales. That fusion affords 2026 a smart balance of known notes and discovery, which is the formula for international play.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount plants an early flag with two front-of-slate entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the center, presenting it as both a lineage transfer and a back-to-basics character-centered film. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a nostalgia-forward mode without looping the last two entries’ family thread. Watch for a push leaning on heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence 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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will seek large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick adjustments to whatever owns the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is elegant, loss-driven, and easily pitched: a grieving man sets up an virtual partner that mutates into a killer companion. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to renew uncanny live moments and quick hits that hybridizes longing and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under working 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 name unveil to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele projects are sold as director events, with a teaser that reveals little and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot offers Universal room to lead 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has shown that a visceral, hands-on effects mix can feel premium on a tight budget. Expect a red-band summer horror jolt that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is framing as a ground-zero restart 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 players and curious audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can amplify format premiums and fandom activation.

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 follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. The distributor has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

How the platforms plan to play it

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate flow to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a stair-step that amplifies both debut momentum and trial spikes in the back half. Prime Video will mix catalogue additions with worldwide buys and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using curated hubs, October hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival buys, confirming horror entries closer to drop and making event-like rollouts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a staged of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with award winners or star packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is tight: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a traditional cinema play for the title, an promising marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday dates to increase reach. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a horror NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a continental coloration from a new voice. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the configuration is anchored enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept clean windows did not deter a dual release from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they pivot perspective and expand the canvas. 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 two-step approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without pause points.

Production craft signals

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries indicate a continued preference for tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that leans on texture and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for con floor moments and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that emphasize surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that sing on PLF.

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 tonal palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Early-year through spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a opaque tease strategy and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s intelligent companion escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys 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: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: gothic-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 Get More Info employee and her demanding boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the power his comment is here balance of power flips and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, rooted in Cronin’s tactile craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting chiller that channels the fear through a kid’s uneven perspective. Rating: pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

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 satirical comeback that teases in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family snared by ancient dread. Rating: TBA. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-first horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: to be announced. Production: ongoing. 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 period language and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 lands now

Three hands-on forces drive this lineup. First, production that eased or re-slotted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

The moviegoer’s year in horror

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

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound field, and picture 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the fear sell the seats.