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

A terrifying metaphysical shockfest from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an archaic force when passersby become victims in a dark ceremony. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing chronicle of endurance and timeless dread that will resculpt terror storytelling this Halloween season. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and atmospheric fearfest follows five lost souls who come to ensnared in a hidden wooden structure under the unfriendly control of Kyra, a tormented girl inhabited by a legendary ancient fiend. Anticipate to be shaken by a cinematic spectacle that combines primitive horror with legendary tales, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a enduring theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is redefined when the malevolences no longer appear outside the characters, but rather internally. This depicts the grimmest facet of the players. The result is a riveting spiritual tug-of-war where the drama becomes a ongoing conflict between moral forces.


In a abandoned forest, five friends find themselves contained under the unholy rule and possession of a enigmatic entity. As the youths becomes unresisting to withstand her command, cut off and pursued by entities unimaginable, they are driven to acknowledge their soulful dreads while the clock coldly strikes toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear grows and associations disintegrate, driving each individual to scrutinize their existence and the notion of decision-making itself. The pressure grow with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that connects spiritual fright with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dive into primitive panic, an evil older than civilization itself, feeding on emotional fractures, and dealing with a spirit that tests the soul when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant evoking something more primal than sorrow. She is unaware until the entity awakens, and that shift is haunting because it is so visceral.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering households internationally can witness this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has pulled in over 100,000 views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, bringing the film to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this launch day to acknowledge these fearful discoveries about our species.


For cast commentary, set experiences, and social posts from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across media channels and visit the official movie site.





American horror’s pivotal crossroads: the year 2025 U.S. lineup fuses myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, plus brand-name tremors

Ranging from last-stand terror rooted in ancient scripture to IP renewals in concert with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the most complex along with strategic year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios set cornerstones with known properties, as SVOD players front-load the fall with new perspectives set against legend-coded dread. Across the art-house lane, the art-house flank is drafting behind the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween holding the peak, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are intentional, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with an audacious swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. targeting mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Led 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. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson returns, and those signature textures resurface: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While the big screen favors titles you know, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend fronted 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 title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It reads as sharp positioning. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays 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 Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal 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 swings back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

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

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming Horror Year Ahead: Sequels, non-franchise titles, paired with A loaded Calendar optimized for frights

Dek The brand-new genre year crowds at the outset with a January traffic jam, and then flows through the warm months, and well into the late-year period, balancing franchise firepower, untold stories, and shrewd calendar placement. The major players are doubling down on smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that turn genre releases into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has become the steady tool in studio calendars, a space that can lift when it clicks and still mitigate the liability when it fails to connect. After 2023 re-taught greenlighters that cost-conscious entries can lead cultural conversation, the following year carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The run translated to the 2025 frame, where revived properties and critical darlings highlighted there is space for several lanes, from sequel tracks to one-and-done originals that perform internationally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a schedule that shows rare alignment across companies, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of legacy names and novel angles, and a reinvigorated priority on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Schedulers say the space now operates like a swing piece on the slate. The genre can arrive on many corridors, yield a clean hook for previews and vertical videos, and outstrip with fans that appear on Thursday nights and stay strong through the subsequent weekend if the picture pays off. Following a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout exhibits confidence in that approach. The calendar launches with a loaded January lineup, then uses spring and early summer for contrast, while carving room for a fall cadence that connects to the Halloween frame and into early November. The grid also includes the deeper integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and expand at the right moment.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across interlocking continuities and classic IP. The companies are not just releasing another entry. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that indicates a tonal shift or a star attachment that ties a next entry to a vintage era. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the most watched originals are favoring real-world builds, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That alloy provides the 2026 slate a lively combination of trust and newness, which is what works overseas.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount fires first with two prominent bets that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, marketing it as both a lineage transfer and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the story approach indicates a fan-service aware approach without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Plan for a rollout rooted in franchise iconography, first images of characters, and a rollout cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reawakens 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 partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will lean on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will go after wide appeal through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick pivots to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tight, soulful, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an AI companion that turns into a harmful mate. The date places it at the front of a heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to reprise eerie street stunts and micro spots that melds love and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an earned moment closer to the first trailer. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele projects are treated as creative events, with a minimalist tease and a subsequent trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot gives the studio room to fill 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has consistently shown that a tactile, practical-effects forward strategy can feel big on a efficient spend. Position this as a hard-R summer horror blast that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, keeping a steady supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is billing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around lore, and monster design, elements that can drive PLF interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by rigorous craft and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus Features has already locked the day for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is glowing.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform plans for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s horror titles shift to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that expands both initial urgency and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video stitches together acquired titles with worldwide entries and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library curation, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and handpicked rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix originals and festival acquisitions, slotting horror entries tight to release and eventizing premieres with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a staged of focused cinema runs and prompt platform moves that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to acquire select projects with established auteurs or star packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for platform stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 lane with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is uncomplicated: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, retooled for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a big-screen first plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas window to broaden. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-first horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception drives. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using small theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, 2026 leans in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate household recognition. The concern, as ever, is fatigue. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is elevating character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-accented approach from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is known enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years announce the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept streaming intact did not hamper a day-and-date experiment from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror outperformed in premium screens. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they change perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, allows marketing to connect the chapters through cast and motif and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

Production craft signals

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued lean toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that elevates tone and tension rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights before rolling out a first look that keeps plot minimal, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and earns shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta refresh that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature and environment design, which favor con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the menu of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. 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 see here Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

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 collide with a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss struggle to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic flips and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller 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 fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, shaped by Cronin’s in-camera craft and encroaching 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 residential haunting scenario that refracts terror through a little one’s wavering internal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. 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 involved creatively again. Logline: {A send-up revival that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan anchored to residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: not yet rated. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 time-true diction and elemental dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026, why now

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or migrated in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and condensed timelines. 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 debuts. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can capture a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where midrange-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.