Age-old Evil Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling feature, debuting Oct 2025 across major streaming services

An eerie spiritual horror tale from narrative craftsman / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried evil when strangers become proxies in a supernatural ordeal. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping episode of staying alive and prehistoric entity that will remodel the fear genre this autumn. Visualized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and claustrophobic feature follows five individuals who awaken trapped in a isolated wooden structure under the malevolent power of Kyra, a female presence possessed by a legendary sacred-era entity. Be warned to be drawn in by a theatrical presentation that fuses primitive horror with ancient myths, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a time-honored element in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is challenged when the fiends no longer develop outside their bodies, but rather deep within. This symbolizes the grimmest dimension of the group. The result is a emotionally raw identity crisis where the intensity becomes a unyielding fight between innocence and sin.


In a forsaken backcountry, five teens find themselves trapped under the ominous presence and haunting of a shadowy entity. As the ensemble becomes powerless to oppose her manipulation, severed and hunted by spirits unfathomable, they are required to acknowledge their inner demons while the time brutally runs out toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia surges and teams break, pressuring each cast member to doubt their true nature and the principle of freedom of choice itself. The pressure escalate with every heartbeat, delivering a horror experience that merges occult fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to tap into primitive panic, an force that existed before mankind, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and examining a force that erodes the self when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant evoking something beneath mortal despair. She is blind until the entity awakens, and that transformation is bone-chilling because it is so unshielded.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing subscribers from coast to coast can witness this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original clip, which has received over notable views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, giving access to the movie to lovers of terror across nations.


Tune in for this visceral spiral into evil. Confront *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to dive into these fearful discoveries about the soul.


For featurettes, behind-the-scenes content, and insider scoops from the creators, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit the film’s website.





U.S. horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season domestic schedule braids together myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Beginning with life-or-death fear infused with mythic scripture as well as series comebacks plus incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors hold down the year using marquee IP, concurrently OTT services prime the fall with new voices plus ancient terrors. On another front, festival-forward creators is propelled by the uplift of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the other windows are mapped with care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, hence 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

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

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the base, 2025 accelerates.

Universal starts the year with a bold swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Guided by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the outline is tried, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

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 is canny scheduling. No heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. 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, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. 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.

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror reemerges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

What’s Next: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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 will tussle for space. 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. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming fear year to come: returning titles, non-franchise titles, alongside A packed Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek: The upcoming scare year builds right away with a January crush, following that flows through the warm months, and deep into the winter holidays, fusing brand equity, novel approaches, and calculated counterprogramming. The major players are prioritizing efficient budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that shape genre titles into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the bankable play in distribution calendars, a category that can surge when it catches and still insulate the drag when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught studio brass that disciplined-budget fright engines can dominate pop culture, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and word-of-mouth wins. The run flowed into 2025, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects made clear there is space for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The sum for the 2026 slate is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across companies, with obvious clusters, a harmony of known properties and untested plays, and a tightened priority on box-office windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and SVOD.

Schedulers say the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the slate. The genre can debut on nearly any frame, generate a tight logline for trailers and platform-native cuts, and outperform with ticket buyers that show up on first-look nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the movie hits. Coming out of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout indicates confidence in that model. The year launches with a heavy January window, then targets spring into early summer for counterprogramming, while carving room for a fall cadence that connects to late October and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and platforms that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and expand at the proper time.

An added macro current is legacy care across interlocking continuities and classic IP. The studios are not just mounting another installment. They are aiming to frame threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a reframed mood or a casting choice that bridges a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are favoring practical craft, practical gags and distinct locales. That mix affords the 2026 slate a confident blend of familiarity and newness, which is how the films export.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount marks the early tempo with two headline bets that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a succession moment and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a memory-charged approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by classic imagery, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear strategies. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tight, heartbroken, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an machine companion that evolves into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that hybridizes devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s pictures are positioned as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has made clear that a raw, physical-effects centered style can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio launches two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is marketing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both core fans and general audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build marketing units around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can increase large-format demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books 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 centered on careful craft and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. The specialty arm has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate flow to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that elevates both premiere heat and sign-up momentum in the after-window. Prime Video blends licensed content with world buys and small theatrical windows when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, October hubs, and handpicked rows to stretch the tail on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about in-house releases and festival deals, finalizing horror entries closer to launch and making event-like debuts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a paired of focused cinema runs and speedy platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with award winners or celebrity-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is simple: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late-season weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

Legacy titles versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-inflected take from a new voice. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and auteur plays supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is anchored enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Comparable trends from recent years frame the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that honored streaming windows did not stop a day-date try from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that my review here global horror franchises can still feel new when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, builds a path for marketing to link the films through cast and motif and to maintain a flow of assets without doldrums.

Production craft signals

The production chatter behind these films forecast a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that foregrounds aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster realization and design, which align with con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is heavy. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid big-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Post-January through spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver 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 finished their premium pass.

End of summer through fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited pre-release reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s machine mate grows into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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 altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss claw to survive on a rugged island as the pecking order turns and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 modern reconception that returns the monster to chill, anchored by Cronin’s in-camera craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting chiller that routes the horror through a little one’s shifting subjective lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-grade and celebrity-led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that pokes at of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime manias. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. 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 bursts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new household lashed to returning horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: pending. Production: underway. 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 dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces drive this lineup. First, production that eased or shifted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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 landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will compete across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where modest-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 press those advantages. 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, acoustics, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is name recognition where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.