Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

One eerie spectral scare-fest from author / director Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an ancient curse when foreigners become vehicles in a malevolent struggle. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking story of survival and primordial malevolence that will redefine genre cinema this October. Realized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and shadowy film follows five figures who emerge stuck in a unreachable shack under the unfriendly sway of Kyra, a troubled woman consumed by a antiquated sacred-era entity. Prepare to be hooked by a filmic experience that intertwines soul-chilling terror with mythic lore, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a legendary element in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is reversed when the entities no longer descend from elsewhere, but rather from deep inside. This mirrors the most primal aspect of the victims. The result is a relentless internal warfare where the emotions becomes a brutal push-pull between righteousness and malevolence.


In a abandoned wild, five characters find themselves imprisoned under the malevolent sway and inhabitation of a shadowy entity. As the protagonists becomes paralyzed to reject her power, severed and chased by presences unnamable, they are thrust to endure their inner horrors while the clock brutally strikes toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension builds and connections fracture, compelling each person to doubt their existence and the principle of autonomy itself. The threat magnify with every breath, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that connects otherworldly panic with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to tap into instinctual horror, an malevolence that predates humanity, channeling itself through mental cracks, and exposing a will that questions who we are when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra involved tapping into something past sanity. She is oblivious until the demon emerges, and that transition is bone-chilling because it is so deep.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that streamers globally can survive this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original clip, which has garnered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, extending the thrill to viewers around the world.


Tune in for this life-altering spiral into evil. Confront *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to witness these spiritual awakenings about free will.


For film updates, production news, and announcements from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across online outlets and visit the official website.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: 2025 U.S. lineup blends ancient-possession motifs, indie terrors, plus franchise surges

From last-stand terror inspired by scriptural legend through to franchise returns as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 is lining up as the genre’s most multifaceted along with calculated campaign year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Top studios stabilize the year with familiar IP, concurrently platform operators front-load the fall with fresh voices alongside archetypal fear. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is buoyed by the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are targeted, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal lights the fuse with an audacious swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a clear present-tense world. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. 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 novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule drops the final chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time the stakes climb, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, reaching teens and game grownups. It hits in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a body horror duet pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No overstuffed canon. No canon weight. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Long Running Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, steered by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trend Lines

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror swings back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

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

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. 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.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming scare Year Ahead: entries, fresh concepts, paired with A loaded Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The incoming terror cycle crowds early with a January bottleneck, then flows through the summer months, and continuing into the late-year period, mixing marquee clout, new concepts, and strategic counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are committing to right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and social-driven marketing that pivot these offerings into culture-wide discussion.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has become the predictable counterweight in studio slates, a vertical that can spike when it lands and still protect the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that modestly budgeted chillers can drive the national conversation, the following year held pace with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where returns and critical darlings proved there is a market for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that carry overseas. The end result for the 2026 slate is a slate that appears tightly organized across the industry, with strategic blocks, a harmony of legacy names and untested plays, and a re-energized commitment on exhibition windows that feed downstream value on PVOD and streaming.

Executives say the category now works like a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can roll out on most weekends, furnish a grabby hook for previews and short-form placements, and exceed norms with moviegoers that come out on opening previews and continue through the week two if the feature satisfies. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 layout demonstrates conviction in that logic. The calendar commences with a crowded January lineup, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while holding room for a autumn push that runs into late October and past the holiday. The calendar also includes the continuing integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can launch in limited release, build word of mouth, and grow at the optimal moment.

A companion trend is IP stewardship across shared universes and legacy IP. The companies are not just turning out another chapter. They are seeking to position lineage with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that indicates a fresh attitude or a lead change that links a new entry to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the auteurs behind the most anticipated originals are celebrating on-set craft, special makeup and concrete locations. That mix produces the 2026 slate a vital pairing of recognition and invention, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two spotlight entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a legacy handover and a DNA-forward character study. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach announces a roots-evoking strategy without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Watch for a push rooted in signature symbols, early character teases, and a trailer cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will lean on. As a summer alternative, this one will go after large awareness through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format supporting quick turns to whatever tops the social talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tight, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an virtual partner that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date locates it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and short-cut promos that interlaces affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under internal 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 leaves room for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are treated as signature events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame gives the studio room to dominate 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, on-set effects led strategy can feel high-value on a tight budget. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that leans hard into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is positioning as a clean-slate approach 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 explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and curious audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around universe detail, and creature effects, elements that can increase premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that boosts both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video blends licensed titles with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about internal projects and festival grabs, scheduling horror entries closer to drop and turning into events drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, my review here which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a selective basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 corridor with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is straightforward: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, modernized for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical-first plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to move out. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using mini theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, 2026 favors the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on brand equity. The question, as ever, is staleness. The near-term solution is to position each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-tinted vision from a emerging director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years frame the model. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not block a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was compelling. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot consecutively, enables marketing to link the films through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries hint at a continued preference for physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers unease and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead features and guild coverage before rolling out a first look that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which play well in booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is crowded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid heavier IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Winter into spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-October slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited disclosures that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s synthetic partner mutates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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 meet a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 demanding boss battle to survive on a rugged island as the power balance shifts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting chiller that pipes the unease through a minor’s volatile subjective lens. Rating: TBD. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-built and toplined supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that needles current genre trends and true crime fervors. Rating: pending. Production: shoot planned 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 bursts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new household tethered to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: not yet rated. Production: active. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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-accurate language and primal menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or migrated in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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 landings. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, select scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, making room for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined 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 detail, sonics, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.