Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This chilling spectral suspense story from scriptwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient entity when unrelated individuals become conduits in a satanic ordeal. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful narrative of survival and timeless dread that will redefine genre cinema this Halloween season. Realized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and eerie thriller follows five figures who suddenly rise confined in a wilderness-bound lodge under the sinister influence of Kyra, a central character haunted by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be seized by a screen-based event that harmonizes visceral dread with ancient myths, 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 time-honored motif in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is reimagined when the forces no longer descend beyond the self, but rather from their core. This mirrors the haunting aspect of all involved. The result is a riveting internal warfare where the events becomes a intense conflict between righteousness and malevolence.


In a wilderness-stricken backcountry, five campers find themselves trapped under the malevolent dominion and curse of a secretive entity. As the ensemble becomes paralyzed to break her command, cut off and tracked by entities unimaginable, they are compelled to stand before their core terrors while the countdown without pause moves toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease amplifies and friendships break, compelling each survivor to reconsider their character and the nature of conscious will itself. The risk climb with every fleeting time, delivering a paranormal ride that intertwines ghostly evil with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to draw upon deep fear, an evil that existed before mankind, filtering through soul-level flaws, and exposing a being that redefines identity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra called for internalizing something rooted in terror. She is innocent until the demon emerges, and that pivot is harrowing because it is so personal.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing watchers around the globe can enjoy this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its initial teaser, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, bringing the film to viewers around the world.


Witness this soul-jarring trip into the unknown. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to explore these chilling revelations about existence.


For film updates, special features, and press updates from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit the movie portal.





Today’s horror inflection point: the 2025 season U.S. release slate braids together old-world possession, underground frights, paired with returning-series thunder

Spanning fight-to-live nightmare stories rooted in ancient scripture and stretching into series comebacks together with acutely observed indies, 2025 is emerging as horror’s most layered in tandem with precision-timed year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses are anchoring the year with known properties, while streamers stack the fall with debut heat alongside ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, festival-forward creators is riding the afterglow from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are methodical, hence 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner begins the calendar with a bold swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, instead in a current-day frame. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. landing in mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Directed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature 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.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, broadens the animatronic terror cast, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Firsts: Tight funds, wide impact

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

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

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is an astute call. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. 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. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trend Lines

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The 2026 genre Year Ahead: Sequels, Originals, paired with A loaded Calendar geared toward chills

Dek The fresh genre calendar packs at the outset with a January crush, following that flows through the mid-year, and straight through the holidays, mixing IP strength, new voices, and well-timed offsets. Studios and streamers are embracing smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that shape these films into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has solidified as the dependable lever in distribution calendars, a category that can surge when it resonates and still buffer the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that responsibly budgeted shockers can galvanize audience talk, 2024 carried the beat with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The carry fed into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets highlighted there is space for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that carry overseas. The end result for the 2026 slate is a roster that feels more orchestrated than usual across distributors, with planned clusters, a balance of marquee IP and fresh ideas, and a revived focus on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and platforms.

Executives say the horror lane now functions as a schedule utility on the release plan. Horror can premiere on numerous frames, create a clear pitch for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with crowds that respond on previews Thursday and hold through the subsequent weekend if the release fires. After a production delay era, the 2026 setup reflects belief in that model. The slate kicks off with a busy January corridor, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while reserving space for a late-year stretch that stretches into All Hallows period and into post-Halloween. The calendar also includes the continuing integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can stage a platform run, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A second macro trend is brand curation across linked properties and veteran brands. The players are not just pushing another continuation. They are setting up threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title presentation that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that binds a new installment to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the most anticipated originals are championing hands-on technique, practical gags and grounded locations. That convergence hands 2026 a lively combination of known notes and invention, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, steering it as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-first story. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach hints at a classic-referencing bent without retreading the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive anchored in brand visuals, character spotlights, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm timed to late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will seek broad awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three differentiated releases. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is crisp, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man installs an AI companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date puts it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s team likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and brief clips that hybridizes companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the debut look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s releases are presented as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects style can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror jolt that maximizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio lines up two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, extending a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around lore, and creature work, elements that can lift premium screens and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by careful craft and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s releases flow to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that amplifies both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the downstream. Prime Video will mix library titles with global pickups and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library pulls, using editorial spots, holiday hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival deals, confirming horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of selective theatrical runs and rapid platforming that translates talk to trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to secure select projects with acclaimed directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 slate with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional theatrical plan for the title, Young & Cursed an good sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas window to move out. That positioning has served the company 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 tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception warrants. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By weight, 2026 leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French sensibility from a buzzed-about director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the package is recognizable enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

Rolling three-year comps help explain the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not hamper a dual release from delivering when the brand was compelling. In 2024, director-craft horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued preference for tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates aura and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft coverage before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and sparks shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta refresh that centers its original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which match well with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is stacked. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid heftier brand moves. 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 thick, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s AI companion shifts into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the power balance turns and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 in-home haunting narrative that twists the unease of a child’s wobbly POV. Rating: TBA. Production: fully shot. Positioning: major-studio and celebrity-led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satire sequel that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime manias. Rating: pending. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 ignites, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 raw menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three practical forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient Check This Out placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, aural design, and imagery 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 scares sell the seats.