Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 across premium platforms

An spine-tingling unearthly shockfest from narrative craftsman / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an archaic evil when guests become conduits in a demonic contest. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of survival and mythic evil that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this scare season. Crafted by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and eerie story follows five young adults who are stirred trapped in a unreachable cottage under the aggressive grip of Kyra, a central character consumed by a antiquated scriptural evil. Ready yourself to be drawn in by a filmic journey that blends primitive horror with ancient myths, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a long-standing fixture in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is flipped when the demons no longer develop externally, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the shadowy part of the victims. The result is a harrowing psychological battle where the suspense becomes a intense confrontation between heaven and hell.


In a desolate woodland, five campers find themselves stuck under the sinister presence and possession of a obscure female presence. As the survivors becomes defenseless to evade her control, marooned and hunted by creatures unfathomable, they are thrust to wrestle with their deepest fears while the time unforgivingly draws closer toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion surges and associations splinter, coercing each protagonist to rethink their self and the principle of autonomy itself. The intensity rise with every tick, delivering a terror ride that merges supernatural terror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to tap into instinctual horror, an power older than civilization itself, filtering through mental cracks, and challenging a presence that redefines identity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra asked for exploring something beneath mortal despair. She is clueless until the demon emerges, and that shift is soul-crushing because it is so close.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing customers internationally can experience this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has been viewed over a viral response.


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


Do not miss this visceral spiral into evil. Confront *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to dive into these spiritual awakenings about human nature.


For sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across online outlets and visit our horror hub.





The horror genre’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season U.S. calendar weaves primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, together with brand-name tremors

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories infused with mythic scripture and onward to returning series plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is coalescing into the most stratified together with tactically planned year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors hold down the year via recognizable brands, as streaming platforms load up the fall with unboxed visions together with ancient terrors. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is riding the carry of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are exacting, thus 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium genre swings back

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner sets the tone with a big gambit: a reimagined Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a clear present-tense world. With Leigh Whannell at the helm anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Eli Craig directs including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer eases, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the outline is tried, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 follows. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: old school creep, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The next entry deepens the tale, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a forensic chill anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

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 calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No canon weight. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

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

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Brands: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror returns
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forecast: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The upcoming genre calendar year ahead: Sequels, original films, alongside A packed Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The upcoming scare year clusters up front with a January glut, before it flows through midyear, and pushing into the holiday frame, weaving franchise firepower, novel approaches, and tactical alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that convert horror entries into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has become the most reliable release in release strategies, a vertical that can lift when it catches and still buffer the risk when it does not. After the 2023 year reassured top brass that efficiently budgeted fright engines can lead cultural conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam fed into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is appetite for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the field, with obvious clusters, a harmony of household franchises and new pitches, and a refocused strategy on cinema windows that feed downstream value on premium rental and home streaming.

Insiders argue the horror lane now behaves like a schedule utility on the calendar. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, generate a quick sell for trailers and social clips, and punch above weight with patrons that lean in on Thursday previews and stay strong through the sophomore frame if the feature fires. On the heels of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 mapping shows certainty in that equation. The calendar begins with a heavy January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a October build that carries into Halloween and past the holiday. The grid also illustrates the greater integration of specialized labels and home platforms that can platform and widen, build word of mouth, and move wide at the right moment.

A companion trend is brand management across ongoing universes and legacy IP. The players are not just mounting another follow-up. They are looking to package lore continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title design that announces a new vibe or a cast configuration that reconnects a new entry to a foundational era. At the parallel to that, the creative teams behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into on-set craft, physical gags and vivid settings. That fusion produces the 2026 slate a solid mix of known notes and surprise, which is what works overseas.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount plants an early flag with two Young & Cursed high-profile releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the focus, angling it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative posture indicates a roots-evoking mode without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Expect a marketing push rooted in iconic art, early character teases, and a rollout cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive general-audience talk through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format making room for quick reframes to whatever defines trend lines that spring.

Universal has three distinct releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to mirror uncanny live moments and micro spots that fuses romance and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a public title to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. The filmmaker’s films are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that define feel without revealing the concept. The spooky-season slot gives the studio room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has shown that a tactile, practical-first treatment can feel premium on a tight budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror shot that centers offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio lines up two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, continuing a consistent supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is marketing as a reset 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 focus to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around world-building, and creature design, elements that can amplify deluxe auditorium demand and fan-culture participation.

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 continues Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in obsessive craft and linguistic texture, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre slate flow to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that maximizes both week-one demand and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video combines licensed titles with world buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog discovery, using well-timed internal promotions, October hubs, and programmed rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival pickups, dating horror entries on shorter runways and making event-like arrivals with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of precision releases and fast windowing that turns chatter to conversion. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has proven amenable to buy select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is simple: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, reimagined for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has worked well for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using precision theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Balance of brands and originals

By number, the 2026 slate tips toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit name recognition. The trade-off, as ever, is staleness. The workable fix is to brand each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is emphasizing character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-accented approach from a buzzed-about director. 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 branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the bundle is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns help explain the logic. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that held distribution windows did not stop a dual release from hitting when the brand was potent. In 2024, Get More Info art-forward horror over-performed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reorient and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, builds a path for marketing to relate entries through protagonists and motifs and to maintain a flow of assets without extended gaps.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind 2026 horror foreshadow a continued shift toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that emphasizes grain and menace rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta refresh that centers an original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature craft and set design, which favor convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that emphasize hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is jammed. 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 quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Pre-summer months build the summer base. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers 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 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a early fall window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a minimalist tease strategy and limited teasers that put concept first.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s digital partner evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes 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: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 fight to survive on a desolate island as the chain of command inverts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to fear, rooted in Cronin’s material craft and quiet 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 domestic haunting chiller that mediates the fear via a kid’s unsteady subjective lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

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 comic send-up that needles present-day genre chatter and true crime fervors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 bursts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a another family anchored to ancient dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: continuing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026, why now

Three execution-level forces inform this lineup. First, production that slowed or migrated in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will share space across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand equity where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, keep secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.