Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

One blood-curdling paranormal horror tale from writer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an timeless dread when foreigners become tokens in a hellish experiment. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking account of perseverance and primeval wickedness that will remodel fear-driven cinema this October. Helmed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and atmospheric suspense flick follows five young adults who arise caught in a remote shack under the hostile control of Kyra, a cursed figure inhabited by a legendary biblical force. Arm yourself to be captivated by a immersive spectacle that harmonizes bone-deep fear with biblical origins, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a time-honored theme in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is challenged when the malevolences no longer appear externally, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the deepest part of each of them. The result is a intense emotional conflict where the events becomes a unforgiving contest between light and darkness.


In a bleak wilderness, five teens find themselves sealed under the unholy aura and infestation of a elusive spirit. As the survivors becomes helpless to break her will, left alone and attacked by beings unimaginable, they are pushed to endure their soulful dreads while the doomsday meter ruthlessly ticks onward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust escalates and associations erode, pushing each figure to challenge their core and the integrity of autonomy itself. The risk magnify with every beat, delivering a paranormal ride that weaves together ghostly evil with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to channel instinctual horror, an darkness older than civilization itself, embedding itself in mental cracks, and questioning a curse that redefines identity when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra involved tapping into something far beyond human desperation. She is insensitive until the control shifts, and that metamorphosis is gut-wrenching because it is so intimate.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be released for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing audiences everywhere can face this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its intro video, which has garnered over 100K plays.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, delivering the story to scare fans abroad.


Witness this bone-rattling journey into fear. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to acknowledge these terrifying truths about the mind.


For sneak peeks, making-of footage, and reveals from the creators, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your favorite networks and visit our horror hub.





U.S. horror’s Turning Point: 2025 in focus U.S. calendar blends primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, plus brand-name tremors

Across last-stand terror infused with mythic scripture and including canon extensions together with focused festival visions, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered paired with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios are anchoring the year with franchise anchors, simultaneously OTT services load up the fall with debut heat alongside mythic dread. On another front, the artisan tier is riding the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are surgical, which means 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal banner fires the first shot with a big gambit: a contemporary Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, instead in a current-day frame. Steered by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

By late summer, Warner’s schedule delivers the closing chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retrograde shiver, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, speaking to teens and older millennials. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a sealed box body horror arc led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Authored and directed 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

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

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror ascends again
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

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. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The approaching fright lineup: entries, filmmaker-first projects, And A hectic Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The incoming horror cycle crams early with a January glut, after that flows through midyear, and running into the holiday frame, balancing brand heft, new concepts, and smart offsets. Studios with streamers are leaning into lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that turn these films into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

The genre has turned into the predictable counterweight in annual schedules, a lane that can expand when it breaks through and still buffer the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year reassured strategy teams that efficiently budgeted chillers can command the national conversation, the following year kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The carry translated to 2025, where reawakened brands and critical darlings proved there is a lane for different modes, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a run that appears tightly organized across the market, with obvious clusters, a combination of brand names and new concepts, and a re-energized strategy on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and digital services.

Executives say the space now functions as a plug-and-play option on the grid. Horror can open on nearly any frame, offer a simple premise for previews and shorts, and exceed norms with viewers that turn out on early shows and keep coming through the second weekend if the offering hits. Following a production delay era, the 2026 pattern demonstrates faith in that equation. The year launches with a heavy January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while holding room for a fall cadence that reaches into holiday-adjacent weekends and afterwards. The gridline also shows the stronger partnership of arthouse labels and streamers that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and expand at the strategic time.

An added macro current is series management across interlocking continuities and classic IP. Distribution groups are not just pushing another next film. They are shaping as ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that flags a re-angled tone or a casting pivot that anchors a upcoming film to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into real-world builds, practical gags and location-forward worlds. That interplay delivers the 2026 slate a smart balance of brand comfort and invention, which is what works overseas.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach indicates a memory-charged angle without retreading the last two entries’ sisters storyline. A campaign is expected rooted in classic imagery, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm timed to late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also revives 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will lean on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will generate large awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick pivots to whatever shapes trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is crisp, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that escalates into a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to revisit uncanny-valley stunts and short-cut promos that mixes companionship and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a final title to become an event moment closer to the initial promo. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are branded as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a visceral, makeup-driven treatment can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that leans into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is selling as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around canon, and monster design, elements that can fuel premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by careful craft and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries transition to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a cadence that boosts both opening-weekend urgency and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video combines licensed titles with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, Halloween hubs, and collection rows to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix retains agility about first-party entries and festival pickups, scheduling horror entries tight to release and coalescing around go-lives with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of precision theatrical plays and fast windowing that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a curated basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with name filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to weblink generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is uncomplicated: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Watch for 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 together, using boutique theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness name recognition. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The practical approach is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is elevating character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is grounded enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and advance-audience nights.

Rolling three-year comps announce the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not obstruct a dual release from delivering when the brand was compelling. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel new when they change perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot consecutively, permits marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to leave creative active without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The director conversations behind this year’s genre hint at a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that elevates tone and tension rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead press and guild coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta reframe that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature and environment design, which favor con floor moments and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel must-have. Look for trailers that accent hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is heavy. 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 quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival this content thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the range of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. 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 sensible. 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 rotated off PLF.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

Embedded title horror notes

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s artificial companion turns into something murderously loving. 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss struggle to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, shaped by Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 leverages the dread of a child’s fragile interpretations. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed and toplined eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that targets today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras due to roll 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: forthcoming. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a another family anchored to old terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBD. Production: continuing. 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 primordial menace. Rating: TBA. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces drive this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, 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 placements. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, acoustics, and cinematography 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.