Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a nerve shredding supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across top streaming platforms

One blood-curdling mystic scare-fest from cinematographer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an forgotten dread when guests become tools in a fiendish struggle. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping portrayal of staying alive and mythic evil that will alter genre cinema this spooky time. Created by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy tale follows five young adults who emerge stranded in a unreachable hideaway under the malignant influence of Kyra, a female lead consumed by a millennia-old scriptural evil. Ready yourself to be hooked by a cinematic outing that weaves together deep-seated panic with timeless legends, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a mainstay element in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is radically shifted when the beings no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather from deep inside. This portrays the most sinister dimension of the group. The result is a enthralling moral showdown where the events becomes a relentless tug-of-war between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote no-man's-land, five souls find themselves isolated under the sinister force and spiritual invasion of a uncanny female figure. As the characters becomes helpless to combat her control, cut off and attacked by creatures mind-shattering, they are obligated to face their darkest emotions while the countdown ruthlessly runs out toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion rises and ties shatter, demanding each soul to reflect on their true nature and the structure of volition itself. The intensity surge with every fleeting time, delivering a cinematic nightmare that connects otherworldly suspense with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to channel deep fear, an curse before modern man, manipulating our weaknesses, and confronting a being that strips down our being when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is innocent until the curse activates, and that metamorphosis is terrifying because it is so visceral.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be released for viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure fans from coast to coast can watch this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original promo, which has earned over 100,000 views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, bringing the film to a global viewership.


Mark your calendar for this life-altering spiral into evil. Experience *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to acknowledge these nightmarish insights about the mind.


For bonus footage, filmmaker commentary, and alerts from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit the movie portal.





The horror genre’s inflection point: 2025 in focus U.S. rollouts fuses Mythic Possession, Indie Shockers, set against tentpole growls

Ranging from endurance-driven terror grounded in primordial scripture as well as legacy revivals as well as keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as horror’s most layered paired with blueprinted year in recent memory.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. top-tier distributors stabilize the year using marquee IP, simultaneously streamers crowd the fall with discovery plays and archetypal fear. In the indie lane, independent banners is drafting behind the uplift of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are precise, which means 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige fear returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner kicks off the frame with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, instead in a current-day frame. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. targeting mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer tapers, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Modest spend, serious shock

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored 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 night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

What to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

What’s Next: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new terror slate: entries, fresh concepts, plus A brimming Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek: The current terror cycle clusters immediately with a January crush, after that spreads through midyear, and running into the year-end corridor, combining name recognition, new voices, and strategic counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are committing to smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that turn genre releases into national conversation.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has grown into the bankable move in release strategies, a vertical that can spike when it breaks through and still insulate the drawdown when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reminded buyers that disciplined-budget chillers can command the discourse, the following year extended the rally with high-profile filmmaker pieces and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is a lane for different modes, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that translate worldwide. The combined impact for 2026 is a calendar that appears tightly organized across the market, with intentional bunching, a mix of recognizable IP and original hooks, and a revived stance on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and home streaming.

Executives say the space now performs as a utility player on the schedule. Horror can debut on virtually any date, supply a easy sell for ad units and vertical videos, and outpace with crowds that arrive on preview nights and return through the follow-up frame if the picture satisfies. Post a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 plan signals faith in that setup. The year launches with a heavy January block, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a September to October window that stretches into spooky season and past Halloween. The arrangement also illustrates the ongoing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can nurture a platform play, generate chatter, and go nationwide at the right moment.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and long-running brands. Big banners are not just releasing another sequel. They are trying to present lore continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a new vibe or a ensemble decision that reconnects a next entry to a foundational era. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the most anticipated originals are returning to practical craft, special makeup and grounded locations. That combination delivers the 2026 slate a strong blend of home base and invention, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece moves that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a fan-service aware mode without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. Watch for a push stacked with iconic art, initial cast looks, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will chase general-audience talk through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick switches to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is crisp, heartbroken, and high-concept: a grieving man implements an AI companion that unfolds into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with the Universal machine likely to bring back odd public stunts and bite-size content that melds love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates 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 official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a public title to become an headline beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His projects are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser that holds back and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has established that a gnarly, makeup-driven approach can feel deluxe on a mid-range budget. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror blast that embraces worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, continuing a bankable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is framing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both players and new audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around lore, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on textural authenticity and dialect, this time engaging werewolf myth. The distributor has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform windowing in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a stair-step that optimizes both opening-weekend urgency and viewer acquisition in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and select theatrical runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library pulls, using well-timed internal promotions, seasonal hubs, and curated rows to maximize the tail on the horror cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about in-house releases and festival snaps, securing horror entries closer to drop and making event-like premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of precision releases and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a situational basis. The platform has proven amenable to board select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is no-nonsense: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, updated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-first horror with crossover ambitions. 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 reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using small theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, 2026 leans in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to brand each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French sensibility from a rising filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the package is steady enough to drive advance ticketing and early previews.

Past-three-year patterns help explain the logic. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept streaming intact did not preclude a day-date move from thriving when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to link the films through character and theme and to continue assets in field without lulls.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind these films forecast a continued emphasis on tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his news The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that elevates texture and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for textured sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature execution and sets, which lend themselves to booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid larger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the variety of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Post-January through spring prime the summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited asset reveals that trade in click to read more concept over detail.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and card redemption.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s digital partner grows into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

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 face a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 hard-edged boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the power dynamic shifts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: marquee survival piece 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 nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s tactile craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting premise that twists the terror of a child’s uncertain impressions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that targets today’s horror trends and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 surges, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family caught in ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: to be announced. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate social-ready stingers from test screenings, precision scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will cluster across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where low-to-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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first quiet 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound, and imagery 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 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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, keep the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.