Mythic Terror Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling feature, premiering Oct 2025 on major platforms

One hair-raising spiritual thriller from storyteller / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an long-buried entity when unrelated individuals become vehicles in a devilish ceremony. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish narrative of survival and prehistoric entity that will reshape fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Helmed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and cinematic cinema piece follows five figures who snap to imprisoned in a hidden house under the sinister control of Kyra, a female lead haunted by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Get ready to be enthralled by a filmic experience that combines intense horror with folklore, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a iconic motif in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is inverted when the demons no longer come from external sources, but rather within themselves. This mirrors the most hidden aspect of these individuals. The result is a intense mind game where the tension becomes a perpetual contest between divinity and wickedness.


In a barren outland, five youths find themselves sealed under the ominous force and spiritual invasion of a haunted apparition. As the characters becomes vulnerable to deny her rule, marooned and tracked by entities unnamable, they are pushed to battle their worst nightmares while the deathwatch harrowingly moves toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety surges and partnerships crack, pressuring each participant to reflect on their identity and the idea of decision-making itself. The intensity accelerate with every breath, delivering a nightmarish journey that harmonizes ghostly evil with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to draw upon pure dread, an curse that predates humanity, emerging via psychological breaks, and challenging a spirit that strips down our being when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was centered on something darker than pain. She is ignorant until the curse activates, and that pivot is emotionally raw because it is so private.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing customers worldwide can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has pulled in over a viral response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, delivering the story to horror fans worldwide.


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable fall into madness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to face these fearful discoveries about mankind.


For previews, director cuts, and announcements from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursed across entertainment pages and visit the film’s website.





U.S. horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 cycle U.S. rollouts braids together primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

Ranging from life-or-death fear saturated with mythic scripture and extending to franchise returns and cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is lining up as horror’s most layered together with intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, as platform operators prime the fall with new perspectives alongside mythic dread. On another front, the independent cohort is buoyed by the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are exacting, therefore 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s slate leads off the quarter with a confident swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a modern-day environment. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner’s schedule launches the swan song within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re teams, and those signature textures resurface: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

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

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale featuring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. That is a savvy move. No swollen lore. No brand fatigue. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy IP: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, guided by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Key Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The coming 2026 scare season: brand plays, non-franchise titles, And A brimming Calendar designed for jolts

Dek: The current scare year builds from day one with a January bottleneck, after that unfolds through midyear, and straight through the holiday frame, mixing legacy muscle, creative pitches, and savvy counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are focusing on right-sized spends, big-screen-first runs, and platform-native promos that convert these films into mainstream chatter.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has proven to be the steady counterweight in distribution calendars, a segment that can surge when it connects and still limit the losses when it stumbles. After the 2023 year proved to top brass that disciplined-budget genre plays can command audience talk, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and surprise hits. The momentum carried into 2025, where legacy revivals and festival-grade titles made clear there is demand for diverse approaches, from legacy continuations to non-IP projects that export nicely. The combined impact for 2026 is a calendar that appears tightly organized across the field, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of familiar brands and new pitches, and a sharpened priority on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium on-demand and SVOD.

Marketers add the category now functions as a plug-and-play option on the grid. Horror can launch on many corridors, provide a clear pitch for previews and social clips, and outstrip with ticket buyers that show up on advance nights and continue through the next pass if the release connects. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 cadence telegraphs trust in that equation. The calendar opens with a stacked January band, then turns to spring and early summer for counterweight, while saving space for a late-year stretch that pushes into the Halloween frame and past the holiday. The schedule also spotlights the greater integration of indie arms and streamers that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and move wide at the proper time.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and long-running brands. Big banners are not just mounting another follow-up. They are looking to package continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a graphic identity that suggests a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that connects a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the in tandem, the directors behind the top original plays are leaning into on-set craft, practical gags and location-forward worlds. That combination offers the 2026 slate a vital pairing of recognition and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount marks the early tempo with two headline entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in his comment is here the top job and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a roots-evoking campaign without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push anchored in iconic art, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will foreground. As a summer relief option, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick pivots to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is simple, loss-driven, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that shifts into a lethal partner. The date locates it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to recreate strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that fuses affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a name unveil to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are treated as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has long shown that a in-your-face, on-set effects led treatment can feel deluxe on a lean spend. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that emphasizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio rolls out two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, extending a bankable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is billing as a reimagined 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 newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can fuel premium screens and convention buzz.

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 sustains Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in obsessive craft and period speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is warm.

Where the platforms fit in

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles shift to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that maximizes both week-one demand and platform bumps in the downstream. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using prominent placements, spooky hubs, and staff picks to maximize the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival additions, scheduling horror entries tight to release and making event-like go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or star-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gain imprimatur 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 heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is direct: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, upgraded for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, guiding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to move out. That positioning has proved effective for elevated genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception supports. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The concern, as ever, is audience fatigue. The near-term solution is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the deal build is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns outline the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not prevent a parallel release from performing when the brand was potent. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in PLF. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. 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-step approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, builds a path for marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to hold creative in the market without dead zones.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate point to a continued shift toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights atmosphere and fear rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and gathers shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which match well with fan conventions and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel necessary. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

January is busy. 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 foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month wraps 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 real, but the palette of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a bridge slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that elevate concept over story.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s synthetic partner shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 prickly boss claw to survive on a isolated island as the hierarchy turns and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 menace, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting chiller that teases the fear of a child’s uncertain interpretations. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody reboot that skewers current genre trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further widens again, with a fresh family caught in old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-first horror over action fireworks. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: not yet rated. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with this content other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday 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 pragmatic forces frame this lineup. First, production that paused or migrated in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and condensed 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, select scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

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 own a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the efficient band. 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 breakout hunt 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, 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 build month to month, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand equity where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when click site scares land. 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, edit tight trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.