Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a bone chilling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across top digital platforms

An spine-tingling mystic nightmare movie from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried malevolence when unknowns become instruments in a hellish struggle. Available October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful chronicle of overcoming and primeval wickedness that will revolutionize scare flicks this October. Crafted by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and cinematic suspense flick follows five characters who snap to stranded in a isolated house under the aggressive rule of Kyra, a tormented girl dominated by a antiquated sacrosanct terror. Prepare to be seized by a screen-based event that intertwines intense horror with folklore, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a well-established motif in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is reversed when the malevolences no longer develop beyond the self, but rather inside them. This depicts the darkest facet of all involved. The result is a relentless identity crisis where the tension becomes a constant contest between righteousness and malevolence.


In a haunting outland, five figures find themselves contained under the unholy force and spiritual invasion of a haunted person. As the team becomes incapable to oppose her will, stranded and targeted by unknowns indescribable, they are confronted to reckon with their darkest emotions while the timeline unforgivingly edges forward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension mounts and partnerships erode, coercing each figure to reflect on their core and the notion of freedom of choice itself. The pressure surge with every passing moment, delivering a nightmarish journey that connects mystical fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dig into primal fear, an curse before modern man, feeding on fragile psyche, and exposing a presence that threatens selfhood when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something rooted in terror. She is clueless until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is eerie because it is so intimate.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for streaming beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—giving audiences globally can witness this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original clip, which has collected over notable views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, offering the tale to international horror buffs.


Make sure to see this haunted path of possession. Face *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to experience these ghostly lessons about existence.


For featurettes, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit the official website.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 across markets American release plan interlaces primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, alongside franchise surges

Across grit-forward survival fare grounded in ancient scripture to IP renewals alongside incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the richest and calculated campaign year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors are anchoring the year via recognizable brands, at the same time platform operators prime the fall with fresh voices as well as primordial unease. In the indie lane, independent banners is drafting behind the kinetic energy from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

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

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal banner fires the first shot with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in an immediate now. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer winds down, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma as theme, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The ante is higher this round, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The new chapter enriches the lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It lands in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, 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 virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens 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, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Trends to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror retakes ground
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more 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 mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The upcoming fright release year: continuations, new stories, paired with A hectic Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The new scare year builds from the jump with a January logjam, thereafter stretches through the warm months, and well into the holiday stretch, balancing brand heft, new concepts, and strategic counterprogramming. The major players are prioritizing lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that elevate these offerings into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the sturdy counterweight in programming grids, a vertical that can grow when it performs and still mitigate the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 proved to greenlighters that cost-conscious pictures can galvanize the zeitgeist, the following year extended the rally with buzzy auteur projects and surprise hits. The head of steam flowed into the 2025 frame, where returns and awards-minded projects showed there is an opening for a spectrum, from continued chapters to original one-offs that travel well. The end result for 2026 is a programming that is strikingly coherent across studios, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of brand names and fresh ideas, and a reinvigorated stance on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital and platforms.

Buyers contend the horror lane now performs as a utility player on the grid. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, generate a quick sell for previews and shorts, and exceed norms with fans that lean in on first-look nights and hold through the next weekend if the title hits. Exiting a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 plan indicates assurance in that model. The year rolls out with a crowded January band, then primes spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while carving room for a October build that extends to the Halloween frame and beyond. The program also includes the continuing integration of specialized imprints and digital platforms that can launch in limited release, fuel WOM, and broaden at the sweet spot.

A companion trend is brand strategy across linked properties and legacy franchises. The companies are not just pushing another return. They are aiming to frame brand continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a title design that announces a fresh attitude or a lead change that binds a incoming chapter to a vintage era. At the simultaneously, the visionaries behind the most buzzed-about originals are prioritizing material texture, practical gags and site-specific worlds. That fusion delivers the 2026 slate a vital pairing of home base and discovery, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, presenting it as both a lineage transfer and a origin-leaning character piece. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the directional approach points to a heritage-honoring framework without covering again the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected rooted in heritage visuals, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt four-quadrant chatter through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format supporting quick redirects to whatever dominates pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is clean, tragic, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date slots it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise uncanny live moments and micro spots that interlaces affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a branding reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s work are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to fill 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a raw, practical-effects forward execution can feel cinematic on a moderate cost. Frame it as a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that maximizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, keeping a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is warm.

Streaming windows and tactics

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a cadence that maximizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video will mix library titles with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix retains agility about first-party entries and festival snaps, slotting horror entries near launch and eventizing releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to buy select projects with prestige directors or A-list packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchises versus originals

By share, 2026 tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-accented approach from a hot helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the playbook. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that respected streaming windows did not preclude a parallel release from working when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror outperformed in premium formats. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they change perspective and elevate 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to connect the chapters through character spine and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The filmmaking conversations behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which fit with convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel necessary. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

Annual flow

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 moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month concludes 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 thick, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Winter into spring load in summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, weblink New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s artificial companion shifts into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 stumble upon a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss battle to survive on a remote island as the pecking order tilts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to nightmare, anchored by Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting story that refracts terror through a minor’s flickering internal vantage. Rating: forthcoming. Production: post-ready. 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 rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A send-up revival that riffs on modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: TBA. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new family linked to past horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: active. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 antique diction and ancient menace. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three execution-level forces shape this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming launches. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will line up across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, acoustics, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for movies 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

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when 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, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.