Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

This haunting ghostly scare-fest from cinematographer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an archaic nightmare when unknowns become puppets in a supernatural ordeal. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing journey of survival and old world terror that will remodel terror storytelling this harvest season. Produced by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and cinematic story follows five lost souls who emerge caught in a far-off shelter under the unfriendly influence of Kyra, a possessed female possessed by a legendary religious nightmare. Be prepared to be ensnared by a visual experience that fuses gut-punch terror with mystical narratives, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a long-standing theme in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is twisted when the fiends no longer manifest from beyond, but rather internally. This depicts the haunting side of every character. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the plotline becomes a soul-crushing push-pull between innocence and sin.


In a haunting landscape, five young people find themselves caught under the malicious rule and spiritual invasion of a obscure female figure. As the companions becomes vulnerable to fight her curse, exiled and targeted by powers unnamable, they are made to acknowledge their greatest panics while the hours brutally runs out toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension amplifies and alliances collapse, coercing each individual to challenge their identity and the philosophy of independent thought itself. The tension accelerate with every heartbeat, delivering a fear-soaked story that intertwines spiritual fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to tap into pure dread, an curse beyond recorded history, channeling itself through emotional vulnerability, and wrestling with a evil that redefines identity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant evoking something unfamiliar to reason. She is in denial until the takeover begins, and that transition is shocking because it is so personal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing households no matter where they are can face this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has received over massive response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, giving access to the movie to fans of fear everywhere.


Make sure to see this unforgettable ride through nightmares. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to dive into these spiritual awakenings about our species.


For film updates, director cuts, and updates from those who lived it, follow @YACMovie across your socials and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror tipping point: calendar year 2025 American release plan fuses myth-forward possession, signature indie scares, paired with tentpole growls

Running from survival horror rooted in near-Eastern lore through to IP renewals plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 stands to become the richest together with blueprinted year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio powerhouses lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, while subscription platforms pack the fall with unboxed visions as well as legend-coded dread. Across the art-house lane, indie storytellers is riding the backdraft from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween stays the prime week, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are calculated, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: The Return of Prestige Fear

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate kicks off the frame with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. dated for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer fades, the WB camp releases the last chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson resumes command, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, with ghostly inner logic. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a tight space body horror vignette including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written 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. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

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. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Signals and Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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. 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 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The approaching chiller release year: continuations, Originals, as well as A stacked Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek The fresh genre calendar loads from day one with a January logjam, subsequently spreads through midyear, and running into the holidays, marrying marquee clout, new voices, and savvy offsets. Studios and platforms are focusing on lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that convert these pictures into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The field has emerged as the steady counterweight in programming grids, a genre that can surge when it catches and still buffer the risk when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year re-taught executives that low-to-mid budget entries can shape the discourse, the following year held pace with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The energy carried into the 2025 frame, where revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets underscored there is a market for diverse approaches, from series extensions to director-led originals that translate worldwide. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a schedule that reads highly synchronized across the market, with obvious clusters, a blend of household franchises and new pitches, and a revived priority on theatrical windows that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and digital services.

Buyers contend the category now works like a flex slot on the grid. The genre can arrive on most weekends, furnish a tight logline for teasers and social clips, and over-index with fans that line up on early shows and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the offering hits. After a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 configuration shows belief in that setup. The slate starts with a busy January block, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a fall corridor that carries into spooky season and past the holiday. The layout also illustrates the ongoing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and broaden at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. The players are not just turning out another return. They are moving to present lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that suggests a tonal shift or a casting choice that reconnects a next entry to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are prioritizing on-set craft, physical gags and specific settings. That fusion gives 2026 a solid mix of trust and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount opens strong with two high-profile plays that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the front, presenting it as both a baton pass and a DNA-forward character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the artistic posture conveys a roots-evoking campaign without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by heritage visuals, character previews, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue four-quadrant chatter through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever drives horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tidy, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that unfolds into a murderous partner. The date slots it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise uncanny live moments and short-cut promos that mixes longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are framed as signature events, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, in-camera leaning mix can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror hit that centers overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is describing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around mythos, and monster design, elements that can accelerate premium screens and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by rigorous craft and language, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films move to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a stair-step that boosts both debut momentum and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video combines outside acquisitions with cross-border buys and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, October hubs, and handpicked rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about first-party entries and festival pickups, securing horror entries near their drops and framing as events rollouts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of precision theatrical plays and accelerated platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 pipeline with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is tight: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical rollout for the title, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has been successful for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception encourages. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited runs to seed evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By weight, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to brand each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and talent-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is steady enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Past-three-year patterns illuminate the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept clean windows did not prevent a dual release from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and widen scale. 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 double feature plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, lets marketing to connect the chapters through protagonists and motifs and to hold creative in the market without hiatuses.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror signal a continued emphasis on hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in deep-dive features and department features before rolling out a tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that work in PLF.

Annual flow

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance 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 legit, but the spread of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a slow-reveal plan and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion shifts into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the chain of command inverts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to dread, grounded in horror Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting premise that teases the panic of a child’s uncertain impressions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further opens again, with a unlucky family bound to past horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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-specific language and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why this year, why now

Three pragmatic forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The stealth-hit search 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, 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 sequence upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, optimized footprints, 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 detail, audio design, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.