Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a pulse pounding thriller, premiering Oct 2025 across leading streamers

One eerie metaphysical scare-fest from author / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an long-buried nightmare when drifters become tools in a supernatural trial. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching journey of endurance and primordial malevolence that will reconstruct horror this Halloween season. Produced by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and immersive fearfest follows five teens who find themselves caught in a cut-off wooden structure under the hostile grip of Kyra, a female lead claimed by a prehistoric sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be enthralled by a motion picture event that integrates deep-seated panic with legendary tales, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a long-standing theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is inverted when the spirits no longer develop beyond the self, but rather within themselves. This depicts the most primal aspect of each of them. The result is a enthralling psychological battle where the conflict becomes a constant contest between light and darkness.


In a unforgiving backcountry, five young people find themselves isolated under the ghastly dominion and haunting of a obscure female presence. As the ensemble becomes incapacitated to escape her curse, isolated and stalked by terrors beyond reason, they are driven to encounter their inner horrors while the timeline relentlessly strikes toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion surges and relationships splinter, urging each protagonist to scrutinize their identity and the foundation of liberty itself. The intensity mount with every beat, delivering a frightening tale that merges spiritual fright with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to extract instinctual horror, an force from prehistory, emerging via fragile psyche, and navigating a evil that dismantles free will when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra involved tapping into something unfamiliar to reason. She is unseeing until the evil takes hold, and that shift is harrowing because it is so deep.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring streamers internationally can survive this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original promo, which has pulled in over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, offering the tale to international horror buffs.


Experience this cinematic spiral into evil. Enter *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to witness these nightmarish insights about existence.


For film updates, production news, and news from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across your favorite networks and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: the year 2025 domestic schedule interlaces Mythic Possession, signature indie scares, in parallel with brand-name tremors

From survivor-centric dread drawn from scriptural legend and including returning series set beside keen independent perspectives, 2025 stands to become the most stratified paired with calculated campaign year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio majors are anchoring the year using marquee IP, simultaneously premium streamers stack the fall with discovery plays plus old-world menace. In the indie lane, the independent cohort is buoyed by the momentum of 2024’s record festival wave. Since Halloween is the prized date, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, therefore 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium dread reemerges

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline fires the first shot with a risk-forward move: a contemporary Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer fades, Warner’s pipeline delivers the closing chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re teams, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, along with eerie supernatural rules. The ante is higher this round, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story with Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped 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 looks like sharp programming. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Brands: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Key Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror reemerges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The forthcoming 2026 terror calendar year ahead: Sequels, Originals, And A packed Calendar calibrated for Scares

Dek: The upcoming horror season clusters in short order with a January logjam, before it unfolds through summer, and pushing into the December corridor, mixing brand heft, new voices, and savvy calendar placement. Studios with streamers are doubling down on smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that turn horror entries into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The field has shown itself to be the dependable play in release strategies, a genre that can scale when it hits and still limit the losses when it underperforms. After 2023 re-taught strategy teams that mid-range shockers can lead cultural conversation, 2024 continued the surge with signature-voice projects and unexpected risers. The head of steam fed into 2025, where revivals and prestige plays signaled there is a lane for several lanes, from series extensions to fresh IP that translate worldwide. The end result for 2026 is a calendar that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with purposeful groupings, a mix of brand names and untested plays, and a renewed priority on exhibition windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Marketers add the horror lane now behaves like a flex slot on the programming map. Horror can debut on numerous frames, generate a sharp concept for ad units and short-form placements, and outstrip with patrons that turn out on early shows and return through the next weekend if the feature satisfies. After a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 setup exhibits trust in that model. The year gets underway with a weighty January lineup, then uses spring and early summer for counterweight, while saving space for a fall run that extends to the fright window and afterwards. The layout also reflects the expanded integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can launch in limited release, stoke social talk, and widen at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across shared universes and legacy IP. Studios are not just releasing another continuation. They are trying to present connection with a occasion, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a reframed mood or a casting pivot that ties a new entry to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the most anticipated originals are favoring practical craft, special makeup and concrete locations. That mix provides the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and invention, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate releases that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture conveys a nostalgia-forward campaign without looping the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by brand visuals, early character teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will lean on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will build wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format permitting quick turns to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is straightforward, soulful, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an machine companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s promo team likely to renew strange in-person Source beats and short-form creative that mixes romance and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an event moment closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded this page before. His entries are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a raw, practical-effects forward mix can feel prestige on a middle budget. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror blast that maximizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio lines up two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is describing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build promo materials around lore, and monster aesthetics, elements that can accelerate format premiums and community activity.

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 maintains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by obsessive craft and language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform tactics for 2026 run on tested paths. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a structure that enhances both FOMO and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed content with international acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using curated hubs, Halloween hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival wins, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and staging as events premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of precision releases and speedy platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for retention when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two brand plays. 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 brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a traditional cinema play for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday slot to broaden. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-driven genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception drives. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using boutique theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By share, 2026 leans toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The caveat, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to package each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and talent-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the bundle is recognizable enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Three-year comps contextualize the method. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that maintained windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from succeeding when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror exceeded expectations in premium large format. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reframe POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, gives leeway to marketing to connect the chapters through cast and motif and to keep materials circulating without dead zones.

How the look and feel evolve

The creative meetings behind the year’s horror signal a continued tilt toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that centers aura and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in long-lead features and department features before rolling out a preview that withholds plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta inflection that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which work nicely for convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that work in PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Winter into spring stage summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now supports 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited asset reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s digital partner mutates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 face a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: mood-led 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 work to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance of power reverses and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting premise that twists the chill of a child’s fragile read. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: major-studio and celebrity-led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, Young & Cursed June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A send-up revival that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 ignites, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a different family linked to past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on classic survival-horror tone over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: to be announced. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces define this lineup. First, production that eased or re-sequenced in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, clearing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first 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. 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, aural design, 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand gravity where needed, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the fear sell the seats.