Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

An eerie metaphysical terror film from creator / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless evil when unrelated individuals become subjects in a devilish experiment. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense story of continuance and primordial malevolence that will transform genre cinema this autumn. Brought to life by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and moody feature follows five teens who awaken caught in a wooded hideaway under the sinister power of Kyra, a young woman overtaken by a biblical-era religious nightmare. Be warned to be gripped by a big screen journey that intertwines raw fear with ancient myths, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a legendary theme in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is redefined when the malevolences no longer come externally, but rather internally. This suggests the most sinister version of all involved. The result is a riveting emotional conflict where the story becomes a soul-crushing struggle between divinity and wickedness.


In a abandoned wilderness, five characters find themselves confined under the dark rule and grasp of a unidentified female figure. As the youths becomes defenseless to escape her manipulation, abandoned and attacked by evils unimaginable, they are pushed to endure their greatest panics while the doomsday meter without pity winds toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust deepens and links break, driving each survivor to reflect on their character and the idea of freedom of choice itself. The hazard climb with every tick, delivering a chilling narrative that connects occult fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to tap into ancestral fear, an curse beyond time, embedding itself in our fears, and challenging a presence that forces self-examination when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra involved tapping into something far beyond human desperation. She is innocent until the possession kicks in, and that turn is emotionally raw because it is so private.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing watchers around the globe can experience this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its release of trailer #1, which has received over six-figure audience.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, giving access to the movie to horror fans worldwide.


Mark your calendar for this cinematic ride through nightmares. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to face these nightmarish insights about inner darkness.


For featurettes, set experiences, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror tipping point: 2025 U.S. release slate weaves old-world possession, Indie Shockers, and franchise surges

Beginning with life-or-death fear drawn from primordial scripture and extending to brand-name continuations paired with focused festival visions, 2025 looks like the most complex paired with carefully orchestrated year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Major studios set cornerstones via recognizable brands, simultaneously digital services saturate the fall with discovery plays and legend-coded dread. On the independent axis, the art-house flank is drafting behind the uplift of a banner 2024 fest year. Since Halloween is the prized date, the other windows are mapped with care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are precise, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s slate leads off the quarter with a statement play: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in an immediate now. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The next entry deepens the tale, thickens the animatronic pantheon, speaking to teens and older millennials. It books December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror chamber piece pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga led by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in 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 a calculated bet. No puffed out backstory. No brand fatigue. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

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.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

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

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Key Trends

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

The Road Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The new scare season: continuations, original films, plus A jammed Calendar aimed at shocks

Dek: The brand-new terror slate stacks from the jump with a January glut, then unfolds through midyear, and continuing into the December corridor, mixing name recognition, novel approaches, and tactical calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are relying on responsible budgets, box-office-first windows, and social-fueled campaigns that frame these films into broad-appeal conversations.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror sector has proven to be the dependable release in annual schedules, a category that can lift when it connects and still limit the floor when it doesn’t. After 2023 signaled to greenlighters that disciplined-budget shockers can steer the discourse, 2024 sustained momentum with auteur-driven buzzy films and unexpected risers. The run translated to the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and awards-minded projects underscored there is appetite for many shades, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that play globally. The takeaway for 2026 is a slate that appears tightly organized across studios, with obvious clusters, a mix of brand names and first-time concepts, and a sharpened attention on big-screen windows that feed downstream value on premium digital and OTT platforms.

Buyers contend the space now acts as a utility player on the release plan. The genre can premiere on most weekends, yield a grabby hook for promo reels and shorts, and over-index with viewers that respond on advance nights and stay strong through the second frame if the feature pays off. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects faith in that setup. The slate opens with a stacked January window, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a fall corridor that carries into spooky season and into the next week. The program also underscores the deeper integration of indie distributors and platforms that can nurture a platform play, create conversation, and broaden at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is legacy care across shared IP webs and veteran brands. Distribution groups are not just mounting another next film. They are moving to present brand continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a graphic identity that conveys a new vibe or a casting pivot that threads a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the most buzzed-about originals are favoring on-set craft, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That alloy provides the 2026 slate a vital pairing of brand comfort and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount marks the early tempo with two spotlight pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the heart, framing it as both a passing of the torch and a DNA-forward character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a throwback-friendly approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm slated for late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will drive mass reach through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever dominates the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tidy, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date sets it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s team likely to renew eerie street stunts and quick hits that fuses romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title reveal to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film click to read more plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s pictures are sold as signature events, with a minimalist tease and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a tactile, in-camera leaning mix can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror blast that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is positioning as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 focus to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can increase large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

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 extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by minute detail and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus Features has already locked the day for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is warm.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that elevates both week-one demand and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with cross-border buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in archive usage, using featured rows, October hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival deals, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 sequence with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clear: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. 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 standard theatrical run for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the October weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception justifies. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By weight, 2026 tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns outline the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that held distribution windows did not preclude a hybrid test from thriving when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, allows marketing to tie installments through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind the year’s horror forecast a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft coverage before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which lend themselves to convention floor stunts and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel compelling. Look for trailers that underscore precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in premium houses.

From winter to holidays

January is packed. 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 macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the mix of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and card redemption.

Project briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss struggle to survive on a uninhabited island as the control balance inverts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-forward 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 dread, anchored by Cronin’s practical effects and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting tale that threads the dread through a young child’s uncertain subjective lens. Rating: to be announced. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-crafted and toplined haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that targets present-day genre chatter and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. 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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family linked to long-buried horrors. Rating: pending. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-core horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: forthcoming. Production: underway. 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 era-accurate language and primal menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three practical forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-slotted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, making room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Expect a healthy 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, 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 tactility, soundscape, and framing 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand power where it counts, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.