Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An eerie ghostly fear-driven tale from author / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an archaic fear when strangers become pawns in a demonic struggle. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful episode of survival and primeval wickedness that will reconstruct genre cinema this harvest season. Realized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and moody suspense flick follows five people who wake up ensnared in a unreachable shack under the unfriendly rule of Kyra, a mysterious girl occupied by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Be prepared to be drawn in by a cinematic venture that weaves together bodily fright with ancient myths, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a historical fixture in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is twisted when the spirits no longer come from an outside force, but rather inside them. This portrays the haunting shade of the players. The result is a emotionally raw moral showdown where the conflict becomes a perpetual battle between right and wrong.


In a remote outland, five figures find themselves contained under the possessive grip and inhabitation of a unknown figure. As the victims becomes defenseless to escape her grasp, detached and targeted by terrors beyond comprehension, they are pushed to wrestle with their inner horrors while the seconds harrowingly ticks toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion intensifies and friendships break, demanding each person to evaluate their values and the notion of liberty itself. The consequences magnify with every second, delivering a fear-soaked story that blends spiritual fright with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to awaken primal fear, an force from prehistory, working through emotional fractures, and navigating a being that redefines identity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra needed manifesting something far beyond human desperation. She is ignorant until the invasion happens, and that transition is harrowing because it is so visceral.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for public screening beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing watchers everywhere can face this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its release of trailer #1, which has garnered over six-figure audience.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, taking the terror to scare fans abroad.


Make sure to see this heart-stopping journey into fear. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to uncover these haunting secrets about our species.


For cast commentary, production news, and news from behind the lens, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your socials and visit the movie’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: the 2025 season U.S. Slate melds myth-forward possession, art-house nightmares, alongside IP aftershocks

Running from fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from primordial scripture all the way to legacy revivals plus pointed art-house angles, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered along with precision-timed year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, in parallel OTT services flood the fall with discovery plays together with scriptural shivers. Across the art-house lane, the artisan tier is riding the momentum of a banner 2024 fest year. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are surgical, and 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 doubles down.

Universal Pictures sets the tone with a big gambit: a reconceived Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, inside today’s landscape. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Slated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: 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 posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson resumes command, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend starring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The 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. It is a calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

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

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. 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.

Signals and Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror returns
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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 including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The approaching genre year to come: continuations, fresh concepts, and also A stacked Calendar calibrated for jolts

Dek The brand-new horror season clusters early with a January traffic jam, then rolls through the warm months, and straight through the festive period, mixing brand equity, creative pitches, and savvy counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and viral-minded pushes that pivot these offerings into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has grown into the consistent tool in studio slates, a genre that can surge when it catches and still hedge the downside when it fails to connect. After 2023 reassured top brass that mid-range scare machines can drive the discourse, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The tailwind extended into the 2025 frame, where revivals and critical darlings highlighted there is capacity for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that carry overseas. The end result for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across studios, with strategic blocks, a blend of established brands and new concepts, and a tightened emphasis on release windows that fuel later windows on premium on-demand and SVOD.

Marketers add the category now slots in as a swing piece on the programming map. Horror can arrive on open real estate, yield a simple premise for spots and shorts, and outpace with fans that appear on previews Thursday and stay strong through the sophomore frame if the offering satisfies. In the wake of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 plan exhibits belief in that model. The slate launches with a front-loaded January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for counterweight, while reserving space for a late-year stretch that pushes into late October and into November. The gridline also shows the increasing integration of indie arms and home platforms that can stage a platform run, ignite recommendations, and broaden at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is series management across shared universes and classic IP. Big banners are not just releasing another sequel. They are seeking to position threaded continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title treatment that telegraphs a recalibrated tone or a ensemble decision that bridges a new installment to a early run. At the alongside this, the creative teams behind the headline-grabbing originals are favoring physical effects work, physical gags and place-driven backdrops. That blend produces 2026 a robust balance of trust and shock, which is what works overseas.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two headline moves that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, setting it up as both a baton pass and a back-to-basics character-focused installment. Production is active in Atlanta, and the story approach points to a nostalgia-forward angle without replaying the last two entries’ family thread. A campaign is expected built on classic imagery, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will feature. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format enabling quick reframes to whatever rules the discourse that spring.

Universal has three discrete strategies. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is crisp, somber, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an algorithmic mate that turns into a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and quick hits that fuses attachment and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s work are branded as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a follow-up trailer set that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has established that a in-your-face, in-camera leaning execution can feel prestige on a mid-range budget. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror surge that emphasizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio books two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a steady supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is framing as a ground-zero 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 explicit mandate to serve both devotees and general audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign creative around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can increase premium format interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror built on minute detail and period language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles head to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that amplifies both initial urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video combines licensed films with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog engagement, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and curated rows to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays nimble about first-party entries and festival grabs, timing horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops arrivals with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a dual-phase of targeted cinema placements and quick platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a selective basis. The platform has signaled readiness to board select projects with name filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for retention when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 sequence with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is tight: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, modernized for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a traditional cinema play for the title, an positive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festival season if the cut is ready, then deploying the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has been successful for elevated genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By tilt, 2026 tips toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness fan equity. The caveat, as ever, is audience fatigue. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is emphasizing character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the configuration is assuring enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Three-year comps make sense of the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that observed windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was powerful. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on 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 bridge entries through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind the year’s horror forecast a continued shift toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft profiles and guild coverage before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster realization and design, which align with convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar cadence

January is jammed. 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 atmospheric change-up amid headline IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the range of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

February through May seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card redemption.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 hard-edged boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic swivels and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s practical effects and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 intimate haunting chiller that frames the panic through a youth’s flickering POV. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-financed and celebrity-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that satirizes current genre trends and true crime fixations. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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: to be announced. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household linked to old terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces shape this lineup. First, production that paused or shifted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects 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 premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on repeatable beats from test screenings, select scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, providing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain see here in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, 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, Ready To Roar

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.