Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a spine tingling feature, launching October 2025 across top streaming platforms

An unnerving spiritual nightmare movie from storyteller / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an long-buried malevolence when unrelated individuals become subjects in a supernatural struggle. Launching October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish narrative of resilience and old world terror that will reshape scare flicks this spooky time. Helmed by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and eerie screenplay follows five unknowns who arise caught in a unreachable wooden structure under the hostile sway of Kyra, a tormented girl consumed by a millennia-old scriptural evil. Get ready to be seized by a theatrical outing that weaves together bodily fright with ancestral stories, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a historical element in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is turned on its head when the spirits no longer emerge beyond the self, but rather from within. This illustrates the most hidden corner of these individuals. The result is a enthralling identity crisis where the tension becomes a unforgiving face-off between moral forces.


In a bleak forest, five adults find themselves isolated under the unholy sway and domination of a elusive character. As the team becomes vulnerable to break her influence, severed and attacked by terrors unimaginable, they are required to deal with their inner demons while the seconds ruthlessly ticks toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia swells and alliances disintegrate, demanding each protagonist to doubt their identity and the foundation of conscious will itself. The tension intensify with every beat, delivering a horror experience that blends unearthly horror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to channel pure dread, an curse born of forgotten ages, channeling itself through emotional vulnerability, and exposing a presence that erodes the self when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant channeling something far beyond human desperation. She is blind until the possession kicks in, and that transformation is harrowing because it is so raw.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering horror lovers globally can survive this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its intro video, which has seen over strong viewer count.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, presenting the nightmare to fans of fear everywhere.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling trip into the unknown. Stream *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these unholy truths about human nature.


For exclusive trailers, director cuts, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across platforms and visit youngandcursed.com.





Modern horror’s major pivot: 2025 U.S. release slate blends biblical-possession ideas, independent shockers, alongside tentpole growls

Beginning with last-stand terror rooted in mythic scripture as well as franchise returns paired with focused festival visions, 2025 is shaping up as horror’s most layered combined with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. major banners lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, in parallel platform operators prime the fall with discovery plays and old-world menace. At the same time, indie storytellers is fueled by the tailwinds from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are disciplined, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. landing in 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 sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, the WB camp drops the final chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: 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, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re boards, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The bar is raised this go, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Firsts: Modest spend, serious shock

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a tight space body horror vignette anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. 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 each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are more runway than museum.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from 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.

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.

Emerging Currents

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror comes roaring back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming chiller season: brand plays, Originals, plus A packed Calendar calibrated for shocks

Dek The brand-new scare cycle loads early with a January pile-up, following that flows through peak season, and continuing into the festive period, mixing franchise firepower, creative pitches, and strategic counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are prioritizing tight budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and buzz-forward plans that shape the slate’s entries into all-audience topics.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This space has solidified as the most reliable release in distribution calendars, a pillar that can lift when it catches and still insulate the downside when it does not. After 2023 proved to executives that efficiently budgeted scare machines can own the discourse, 2024 continued the surge with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where resurrections and critical darlings demonstrated there is capacity for several lanes, from sequel tracks to filmmaker-driven originals that travel well. The combined impact for 2026 is a calendar that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with strategic blocks, a mix of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a renewed strategy on release windows that drive downstream revenue on premium rental and streaming.

Studio leaders note the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can open on almost any weekend, generate a grabby hook for teasers and short-form placements, and lead with fans that turn out on Thursday nights and continue through the week two if the offering lands. Post a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping exhibits confidence in that model. The year rolls out with a crowded January schedule, then primes spring and early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a autumn push that extends to the Halloween frame and into November. The gridline also reflects the expanded integration of boutique distributors and platforms that can develop over weeks, spark evangelism, and roll out at the timely point.

An added macro current is franchise tending across shared IP webs and heritage properties. The players are not just mounting another continuation. They are working to present brand continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title treatment that suggests a fresh attitude or a star attachment that threads a incoming chapter to a initial period. At the simultaneously, the visionaries behind the most watched originals are leaning into practical craft, in-camera effects and distinct locales. That combination provides 2026 a robust balance of comfort and unexpected turns, which is how the films export.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two spotlight bets that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, marketing it as both a handoff and a classic-mode character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the artistic posture hints at a roots-evoking mode without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push stacked with signature symbols, intro reveals, and a tiered teaser plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will double down on. As a summer contrast play, this one will hunt general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever shapes the discourse that spring.

Universal has three unique entries. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man onboards an synthetic partner that becomes a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to renew odd public stunts and short-cut promos that fuses romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title drop to become an attention spike closer to the initial promo. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are presented as marquee events, with a teaser that holds back and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-October frame allows Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered style can feel big on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror shot that maximizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, keeping a Check This Out trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is presenting as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in minute detail and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that enhances both FOMO and platform bumps in the later window. Prime Video interleaves library titles with worldwide entries and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library pulls, using seasonal hubs, Halloween hubs, and featured rows to increase tail value on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival pickups, timing horror entries on shorter runways and positioning as event drops launches with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a tiered of selective theatrical runs and short jumps to platform that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has indicated interest to secure select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is tight: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, refined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a cinema-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday frame to broaden. That positioning has proved effective for craft-driven horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception merits. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using targeted theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their paid base.

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 use name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is brand wear. The standing approach is to package each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is bringing forward character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-inflected take from a emerging director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and auteur plays deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the team and cast is anchored enough to spark pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps help explain the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept clean windows did not block a parallel release from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they angle differently and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

Behind-the-camera trends

The director conversations behind the year’s horror signal a continued emphasis horror on tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that emphasizes creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a first look that keeps plot minimal, a move that has worked 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 lands overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which are ideal for fan-con activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that underscore pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that play in premium auditoriums.

Annual flow

January is busy. 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 atmospheric change-up amid bigger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Winter into spring seed summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder season window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

Embedded title notes

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 oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. 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 grieving man’s machine mate evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

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 run into a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 severe boss work to survive on a rugged island as the control balance inverts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to nightmare, anchored by Cronin’s on-set craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting story that manipulates the unease of a child’s inconsistent read. Rating: not yet rated. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-built and celebrity-led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody reboot that pokes at contemporary horror memes and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 flares, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan bound to long-buried horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on classic survival-horror tone over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: continuing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 historical diction and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three nuts-and-bolts forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or recalendared in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more strict 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 chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest turnkey scare beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will stack across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 lean-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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, disciplined footprints, 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 dimensionality, soundscape, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is IP strength where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.