Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts ancient terror, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 on global platforms

This eerie mystic thriller from storyteller / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an long-buried curse when outsiders become pawns in a dark experiment. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing narrative of perseverance and primordial malevolence that will reimagine the fear genre this Halloween season. Visualized by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and emotionally thick motion picture follows five young adults who are stirred ensnared in a far-off structure under the menacing power of Kyra, a tormented girl controlled by a antiquated biblical force. Be prepared to be drawn in by a big screen outing that combines soul-chilling terror with timeless legends, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a mainstay pillar in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is inverted when the dark entities no longer emerge from beyond, but rather within themselves. This portrays the darkest part of each of them. The result is a edge-of-seat identity crisis where the intensity becomes a perpetual fight between moral forces.


In a unforgiving natural abyss, five campers find themselves contained under the unholy force and haunting of a unidentified person. As the survivors becomes unable to resist her rule, detached and hunted by unknowns beyond reason, they are made to deal with their darkest emotions while the deathwatch mercilessly draws closer toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia surges and friendships shatter, requiring each soul to contemplate their self and the concept of self-determination itself. The threat surge with every second, delivering a cinematic nightmare that blends otherworldly panic with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to dive into basic terror, an curse that existed before mankind, channeling itself through inner turmoil, and navigating a evil that redefines identity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra was about accessing something beneath mortal despair. She is uninformed until the evil takes hold, and that transformation is emotionally raw because it is so visceral.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering viewers around the globe can dive into this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its initial teaser, which has racked up over strong viewer count.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, taking the terror to horror fans worldwide.


Don’t miss this life-altering fall into madness. Join *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to see these haunting secrets about human nature.


For bonus footage, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across online outlets and visit the official movie site.





Horror’s major pivot: the 2025 season stateside slate melds legend-infused possession, underground frights, paired with returning-series thunder

Beginning with survival horror grounded in primordial scripture all the way to installment follow-ups as well as incisive indie visions, 2025 is tracking to be the richest paired with deliberate year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio majors stabilize the year using marquee IP, even as streamers crowd the fall with new voices set against mythic dread. Across the art-house lane, the art-house flank is riding the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, however this time, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are exacting, accordingly 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with a statement play: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Under Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer fades, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma as narrative engine, and eerie supernatural logic. This pass pushes higher, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It hits in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are more runway than museum.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trends to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The next fear calendar year ahead: Sequels, universe starters, plus A hectic Calendar designed for chills

Dek The fresh genre year crams early with a January glut, before it runs through summer, and straight through the holiday stretch, fusing brand equity, new concepts, and strategic counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and shareable marketing that elevate the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has become the steady lever in release plans, a vertical that can accelerate when it hits and still safeguard the liability when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that lean-budget shockers can dominate audience talk, the following year sustained momentum with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The carry fed into the 2025 frame, where returns and premium-leaning entries proved there is appetite for a spectrum, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that travel well. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across studios, with mapped-out bands, a blend of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a tightened strategy on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and digital services.

Marketers add the genre now operates like a swing piece on the schedule. Horror can open on numerous frames, supply a simple premise for marketing and reels, and over-index with patrons that come out on advance nights and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the movie connects. Post a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout indicates certainty in that engine. The calendar opens with a stacked January band, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a September to October window that flows toward the Halloween corridor and beyond. The gridline also highlights the increasing integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A further high-level trend is IP stewardship across shared universes and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just pushing another installment. They are trying to present lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a casting move that binds a new installment to a foundational era. At the alongside this, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and site-specific worlds. That combination offers 2026 a vital pairing of home base and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-centered film. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a heritage-honoring angle without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push rooted in legacy iconography, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined plays. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is simple, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an AI companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with the Universal machine likely to bring back odd public stunts and quick hits that melds devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title reveal to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s releases are sold as director events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-month date 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, hands-on effects method can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Expect a grime-caked summer horror shock that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, sustaining a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build marketing units around canon, and creature design, elements that can accelerate premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that fortifies both premiere heat and platform bumps in the tail. Prime Video balances third-party pickups with worldwide buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library curation, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and featured rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival pickups, dating horror entries closer to launch and turning into events debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a paired of selective theatrical runs and fast windowing that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for retention when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 arc with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a theatrical rollout for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to move out. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using small theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Brands and originals

By share, the 2026 slate tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is viewer burnout. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-flavored turn from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the packaging is recognizable enough to drive advance ticketing and early previews.

Recent comps illuminate the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not preclude a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they change perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind this slate forecast a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that highlights aura and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature work and production design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that elevate disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

Month-by-month map

January is crowded. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the palette of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents 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.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card use.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s algorithmic partner escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 scramble to survive on a remote island as the chain of command upends and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

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 retelling that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s practical effects and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. movies Logline: {A closed-door haunting setup that explores the fright of a child’s unreliable point of view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed and headline-actor led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A comic send-up that teases today’s horror trends and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 detonates, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward classic survival-horror tone over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in progress. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 raw menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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 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 sleeper chase 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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 flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, 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 texture, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.