Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

One hair-raising otherworldly fright fest from creator / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an mythic entity when unrelated individuals become subjects in a diabolical ritual. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish tale of staying alive and archaic horror that will reconstruct horror this spooky time. Produced by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody suspense flick follows five figures who find themselves ensnared in a secluded shelter under the malevolent command of Kyra, a young woman overtaken by a prehistoric holy text monster. Arm yourself to be shaken by a screen-based spectacle that unites gut-punch terror with spiritual backstory, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a recurring element in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is challenged when the forces no longer originate from a different plane, but rather within themselves. This marks the most primal layer of these individuals. The result is a edge-of-seat mind game where the emotions becomes a relentless conflict between righteousness and malevolence.


In a isolated terrain, five individuals find themselves contained under the sinister dominion and haunting of a unidentified figure. As the youths becomes submissive to evade her grasp, isolated and attacked by terrors ungraspable, they are made to deal with their greatest panics while the doomsday meter harrowingly draws closer toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust swells and associations disintegrate, requiring each individual to reflect on their existence and the concept of decision-making itself. The cost intensify with every breath, delivering a scare-fueled ride that blends otherworldly panic with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to explore ancestral fear, an curse beyond time, working through psychological breaks, and highlighting a power that erodes the self when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra was about accessing something darker than pain. She is uninformed until the spirit seizes her, and that change is deeply unsettling because it is so internal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing streamers everywhere can dive into this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over a viral response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, exporting the fear to a worldwide audience.


Be sure to catch this haunted descent into hell. Enter *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to see these dark realities about free will.


For exclusive trailers, production news, and announcements directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across fan hubs and visit the movie’s homepage.





Current horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 stateside slate blends legend-infused possession, indie terrors, and IP aftershocks

Running from survivor-centric dread saturated with ancient scripture and stretching into franchise returns plus cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 looks like the most complex along with blueprinted year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. the big studios stabilize the year with franchise anchors, while streaming platforms crowd the fall with new voices paired with ancient terrors. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the momentum from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, though in this cycle, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are surgical, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal camp starts the year with a bold swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in an immediate now. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite 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 winds down, Warner’s pipeline rolls out the capstone from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The continuation widens the legend, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. 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 remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming fright release year: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, plus A Crowded Calendar Built For screams

Dek: The new scare cycle lines up from day one with a January crush, thereafter flows through summer corridors, and pushing into the December corridor, balancing name recognition, fresh ideas, and tactical counterweight. The major players are committing to efficient budgets, theatrical leads, and viral-minded pushes that turn the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This category has shown itself to be the dependable move in studio lineups, a lane that can lift when it resonates and still insulate the exposure when it misses. After 2023 re-taught strategy teams that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can lead the national conversation, 2024 held pace with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The upswing extended into 2025, where resurrections and awards-minded projects showed there is a market for a spectrum, from returning installments to original features that play globally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across the field, with intentional bunching, a blend of brand names and untested plays, and a revived commitment on cinema windows that feed downstream value on premium digital rental and streaming.

Schedulers say the category now functions as a flex slot on the rollout map. The genre can open on most weekends, create a clean hook for spots and shorts, and outstrip with demo groups that show up on preview nights and return through the follow-up frame if the title hits. Exiting a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 rhythm demonstrates comfort in that logic. The calendar begins with a heavy January corridor, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while carving room for a fall run that flows toward holiday-adjacent weekends and afterwards. The arrangement also features the ongoing integration of specialized imprints and OTT outlets that can launch in limited release, fuel WOM, and broaden at the precise moment.

An added macro current is brand management across connected story worlds and classic IP. The players are not just pushing another entry. They are looking to package threaded continuity with a occasion, whether that is a typeface approach that indicates a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that connects a new entry to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the top original plays are leaning into on-set craft, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That interplay offers the 2026 slate a lively combination of trust and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount opens strong with two prominent releases 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, positioning the film as both a baton pass and a back-to-basics character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative posture telegraphs a throwback-friendly mode without retreading the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by classic imagery, character-first teases, and a staggered trailer plan slated for late fall. Distribution is theatrical 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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will lean on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will drive wide buzz through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format supporting quick pivots to whatever drives the conversation that spring.

Universal has three differentiated bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is elegant, tragic, and concept-forward: a grieving man adopts an virtual partner that turns into a perilous partner. The date sets it at the front of a thick month, with the marketing arm likely to revisit viral uncanny stunts and bite-size content that hybridizes attachment and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a title reveal to become an event moment closer to the first trailer. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele projects are set up as signature events, with a opaque teaser and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date offers Universal room to own 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has consistently shown that a gritty, hands-on effects mix can feel big on a middle budget. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror shot that emphasizes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio mounts two marquee IP entries in this contact form the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, continuing a bankable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is describing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 charge to serve both longtime followers and casuals. The fall slot allows Sony to build materials around world-building, and practical creature work, elements that can fuel large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror centered on historical precision and language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The distributor has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is supportive.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre entries window into copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a structure that maximizes both opening-weekend urgency and subscriber lifts in the late-window. Prime Video blends licensed content with world buys and brief theater runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in back-catalog play, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and curated strips to extend momentum on 2026 genre cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about first-party entries and festival acquisitions, timing horror entries with shorter lead times and eventizing go-lives with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a two-step of targeted cinema placements and rapid platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a discrete basis. The platform has been willing to secure select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 arc with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is clear: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then working the holiday corridor to broaden. That positioning has delivered for arthouse horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception encourages. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The standing approach is to package each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is underscoring character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a European tilt from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps help explain the model. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that maintained windows did not stop a day-date move from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, director-craft horror popped in premium large format. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they change perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The shop talk behind the upcoming entries forecast a continued move toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that underscores unease and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which work nicely for fan conventions and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is packed. Universal’s 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 marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the spread of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer this content gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s AI companion escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: atmospheric 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 unyielding boss battle to survive on a lonely island as the power dynamic turns and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting setup that twists the fear of a child’s uncertain interpretations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that satirizes today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a unlucky family lashed to old terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBA. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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-precise speech and primal menace. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter timelines. 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. 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 sweet spot. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where value-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 sleeper overperformer 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, soundcraft, and visual design 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.