Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a bone chilling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

An eerie mystic suspense story from cinematographer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an prehistoric dread when guests become conduits in a malevolent experiment. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing narrative of resistance and primeval wickedness that will reimagine the fear genre this Halloween season. Crafted by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and atmospheric motion picture follows five individuals who arise caught in a cut-off lodge under the menacing grip of Kyra, a female lead inhabited by a 2,000-year-old holy text monster. Be warned to be absorbed by a filmic display that blends bodily fright with mystical narratives, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a mainstay fixture in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is subverted when the malevolences no longer arise from a different plane, but rather from their core. This echoes the malevolent part of the protagonists. The result is a psychologically brutal internal warfare where the suspense becomes a constant confrontation between good and evil.


In a abandoned terrain, five figures find themselves confined under the sinister aura and haunting of a enigmatic person. As the protagonists becomes submissive to evade her curse, marooned and stalked by beings impossible to understand, they are required to acknowledge their raw vulnerabilities while the doomsday meter unforgivingly winds toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion mounts and bonds erode, pressuring each member to rethink their self and the notion of autonomy itself. The intensity amplify with every minute, delivering a nightmarish journey that weaves together unearthly horror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to draw upon elemental fright, an force that predates humanity, manifesting in psychological breaks, and testing a spirit that tests the soul when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra asked for exploring something deeper than fear. She is oblivious until the spirit seizes her, and that turn is soul-crushing because it is so raw.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring viewers no matter where they are can survive this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has pulled in over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, making the film to international horror buffs.


Be sure to catch this unforgettable journey into fear. Join *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to uncover these haunting secrets about our species.


For featurettes, making-of footage, and press updates directly from production, follow @YACMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s Turning Point: 2025 U.S. lineup weaves archetypal-possession themes, independent shockers, in parallel with tentpole growls

Beginning with grit-forward survival fare inspired by primordial scripture through to IP renewals plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is lining up as the most dimensioned plus tactically planned year in a decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors bookend the months with established lines, at the same time subscription platforms crowd the fall with debut heat together with mythic dread. On another front, the artisan tier is catching the uplift from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are precise, thus 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate begins the calendar with a risk-forward move: a reimagined Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures delivers the closing chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: old school creep, trauma driven plotting, along with eerie supernatural rules. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, stretches the animatronic parade, bridging teens and legacy players. It posts in December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: Economy, maximum dread

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a forensic chill anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a sealed box body horror arc fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Shaped 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. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

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 canny scheduling. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony 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 adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Trends to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning 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 returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Badges become bargaining chips
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

What’s Next: Autumn overload with a 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 must claw for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The upcoming genre slate: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, together with A loaded Calendar designed for frights

Dek: The incoming scare calendar lines up up front with a January glut, after that spreads through midyear, and running into the holidays, balancing marquee clout, new concepts, and well-timed offsets. Distributors with platforms are leaning into efficient budgets, theater-first strategies, and platform-native promos that elevate genre releases into all-audience topics.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The genre has proven to be the sturdy release in studio lineups, a pillar that can surge when it breaks through and still mitigate the drawdown when it underperforms. After 2023 reassured buyers that low-to-mid budget shockers can command cultural conversation, the following year sustained momentum with auteur-driven buzzy films and unexpected risers. The carry fed into the 2025 frame, where returns and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is capacity for many shades, from series extensions to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The net effect for 2026 is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across companies, with defined corridors, a blend of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a re-energized attention on exhibition windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital and streaming.

Marketers add the space now serves as a utility player on the programming map. The genre can kick off on open real estate, furnish a simple premise for ad units and social clips, and overperform with audiences that line up on first-look nights and sustain through the follow-up frame if the release connects. Following a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 configuration shows trust in that playbook. The slate kicks off with a crowded January block, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while leaving room for a fall run that pushes into late October and afterwards. The arrangement also reflects the continuing integration of specialized imprints and OTT outlets that can platform a title, spark evangelism, and broaden at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and long-running brands. Studios are not just rolling another continuation. They are shaping as story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a graphic identity that announces a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that links a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the top original plays are championing practical craft, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That mix yields 2026 a smart balance of familiarity and surprise, which is the formula for international play.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount opens strong with two prominent titles that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach suggests a memory-charged treatment without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Expect a marketing push fueled by brand visuals, early character teases, and a staggered trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off 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 as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will play up. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will drive wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format allowing quick shifts to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, somber, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that escalates into a harmful mate. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to renew odd public stunts and snackable content that melds love and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title drop to become an attention spike closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele projects are branded as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a second trailer wave that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween runway offers Universal room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a gnarly, practical-effects forward treatment can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror charge that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is positioning as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both diehards and general audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around universe detail, and creature work, elements that can lift large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions 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 driven by meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform tactics for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that expands both FOMO and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix catalogue additions with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, horror hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix retains agility about original films and festival pickups, dating horror entries closer to drop and making event-like debuts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of selective theatrical runs and accelerated platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has indicated interest to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, modernized for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a theatrical rollout for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using select theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is spotlighting character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated 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 Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is recognizable enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday previews.

Recent-year comps clarify the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not deter a parallel release from performing when the brand was big. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror punched above its weight in PLF. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reframe POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on 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 consecutively, builds a path for marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the 2026 slate point to a continued turn toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and technical spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta refresh that centers an original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster realization and design, which fit with fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in big rooms.

How the year maps out

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month winds down 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 get redirected here here is formidable, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited previews that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s digital partner turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss battle to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to dread, founded on Cronin’s physical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 family-home haunting tale that routes the horror through a youngster’s uneven POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A send-up revival that satirizes modern genre fads and true-crime buzz. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 bursts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan anchored to past horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survivalist horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: forthcoming. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 and why now

Three grounded forces inform this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, select scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Anticipate a robust 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.

From viewer POV, the year

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 turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, aural 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.