Age-old Horror awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising feature, bowing Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

One terrifying spiritual terror film from writer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an long-buried terror when outsiders become tools in a fiendish ceremony. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking tale of overcoming and prehistoric entity that will transform horror this harvest season. Brought to life by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and tone-heavy screenplay follows five individuals who are stirred locked in a isolated shelter under the dark influence of Kyra, a troubled woman consumed by a two-thousand-year-old Old Testament spirit. Steel yourself to be hooked by a cinematic presentation that melds visceral dread with mythic lore, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a classic tradition in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is redefined when the monsters no longer manifest beyond the self, but rather deep within. This echoes the malevolent corner of every character. The result is a harrowing internal warfare where the narrative becomes a ongoing face-off between heaven and hell.


In a barren outland, five characters find themselves caught under the ghastly influence and domination of a unknown female presence. As the youths becomes incapacitated to oppose her command, stranded and followed by entities indescribable, they are required to battle their deepest fears while the timeline brutally winds toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust surges and friendships implode, pressuring each cast member to reflect on their personhood and the foundation of volition itself. The consequences magnify with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that integrates spiritual fright with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to explore pure dread, an power beyond recorded history, filtering through human fragility, and highlighting a being that dismantles free will when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra demanded embodying something unfamiliar to reason. She is unaware until the possession kicks in, and that change is haunting because it is so personal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering households from coast to coast can watch this demonic journey.


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


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, presenting the nightmare to fans of fear everywhere.


Don’t miss this heart-stopping fall into madness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to see these ghostly lessons about the psyche.


For sneak peeks, on-set glimpses, and alerts from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit the movie portal.





American horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 U.S. rollouts weaves legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, set against tentpole growls

From pressure-cooker survival tales suffused with legendary theology and extending to legacy revivals paired with focused festival visions, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered paired with strategic year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. the big studios lay down anchors using marquee IP, while OTT services crowd the fall with debut heat set against archetypal fear. On the independent axis, horror’s indie wing is surfing the backdraft from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the other windows are mapped with care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are calculated, thus 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 accelerates.

Universal starts the year with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Directed by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s slate releases the last chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, and eerie supernatural logic. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

With cinemas leaning into known IP, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also notable is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative led by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is an astute call. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

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

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. 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 appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Trends to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

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

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The oncoming terror calendar year ahead: installments, universe starters, paired with A loaded Calendar aimed at screams

Dek: The incoming terror cycle lines up from the jump with a January traffic jam, then carries through June and July, and straight through the winter holidays, balancing franchise firepower, original angles, and well-timed counterprogramming. The major players are committing to smart costs, exclusive theatrical windows first, and viral-minded pushes that transform these pictures into all-audience topics.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has become the steady counterweight in programming grids, a category that can scale when it catches and still mitigate the liability when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year proved to leaders that lean-budget fright engines can command audience talk, 2024 continued the surge with director-led heat and unexpected risers. The upswing moved into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and festival-grade titles highlighted there is demand for different modes, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that play globally. The upshot for 2026 is a run that looks unusually coordinated across the field, with purposeful groupings, a blend of established brands and new concepts, and a tightened attention on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on PVOD and digital services.

Executives say the category now performs as a wildcard on the programming map. The genre can kick off on nearly any frame, supply a grabby hook for spots and TikTok spots, and outpace with moviegoers that respond on advance nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the release delivers. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 setup telegraphs conviction in that logic. The slate opens with a stacked January band, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a fall run that carries into late October and into the next week. The arrangement also reflects the expanded integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can develop over weeks, stoke social talk, and broaden at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across unified worlds and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just rolling another chapter. They are moving to present brand continuity with a specialness, whether that is a graphic identity that announces a new tone or a casting choice that reconnects a latest entry to a early run. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are returning to tactile craft, makeup and prosthetics and grounded locations. That mix hands 2026 a strong blend of brand comfort and newness, which is why the genre exports well.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate releases that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the core, marketing it as both a lineage transfer and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the artistic posture telegraphs a memory-charged strategy without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in franchise iconography, first images of characters, and a tiered teaser plan slated for late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will feature. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will generate wide buzz through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format allowing quick adjustments to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct releases. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is simple, heartbroken, and premise-first: a grieving man adopts an algorithmic mate that unfolds into a harmful mate. The date puts it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to replay uncanny live moments and short-cut promos that mixes devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under development 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 final title to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s work are set up as creative events, with a minimalist tease and a second wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has long shown that a visceral, physical-effects centered treatment can feel deluxe on a lean spend. Expect a hard-R summer horror shot that leans hard into worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio places two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is positioning as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build artifacts around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and fan-forward engagement.

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 maintains Eggers’ run of period horror defined by historical precision and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus Features has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is favorable.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on stable tracks. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that maximizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with world buys and limited runs in theaters when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using curated hubs, October hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival deals, scheduling horror entries near their drops and staging as events premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a laddered of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for retention when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 corridor with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern audio and picture. 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 indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then turning to the December frame to scale. That positioning has shown results for craft-driven horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Legacy titles versus originals

By share, the 2026 slate tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage fan equity. The caveat, as ever, is audience fatigue. The preferred tactic is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is bringing forward character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a Francophone tone from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold 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 sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf anchors this contact form in period detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the bundle is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and advance-audience nights.

Rolling three-year comps clarify the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that honored streaming windows did not obstruct a parallel release from paying off when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in premium formats. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they alter lens and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, enables marketing to tie installments through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without lulls.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind the 2026 slate suggest a continued lean toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes texture and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft coverage before rolling out a preview that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature craft and set design, which lend themselves to expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that center surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar cadence

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the mix of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth sticks.

February through May set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

End of summer through fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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 counter a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s AI companion becomes something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 meet a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 struggle to survive on a rugged island as the pecking order tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

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 nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s practical effects and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting piece that twists the unease of a child’s shaky perceptions. Rating: TBD. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-supported and marquee-led occult chiller.

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 teases of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: pending. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 detonates, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new household linked to residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 period-precise speech and primal menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 and why now

Three hands-on forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate shareable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 sleeper 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a tasting table, 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound, and visual design 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, new vision where it lands, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.