Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 across top digital platforms

A haunting otherworldly suspense story from storyteller / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an forgotten curse when unfamiliar people become pawns in a dark trial. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking story of living through and primeval wickedness that will redefine genre cinema this harvest season. Realized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and eerie story follows five strangers who regain consciousness stranded in a hidden shelter under the oppressive will of Kyra, a female lead haunted by a prehistoric ancient fiend. Anticipate to be ensnared by a motion picture ride that merges bone-deep fear with legendary tales, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a historical element in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is subverted when the dark entities no longer manifest from beyond, but rather from their core. This echoes the most terrifying layer of all involved. The result is a relentless spiritual tug-of-war where the drama becomes a brutal contest between divinity and wickedness.


In a abandoned landscape, five characters find themselves trapped under the evil effect and grasp of a haunted being. As the ensemble becomes powerless to evade her manipulation, marooned and followed by evils inconceivable, they are made to acknowledge their deepest fears while the clock mercilessly edges forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust mounts and ties break, pressuring each character to examine their self and the nature of conscious will itself. The danger amplify with every instant, delivering a nightmarish journey that blends otherworldly panic with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to channel basic terror, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, manifesting in our weaknesses, and confronting a presence that erodes the self when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra involved tapping into something past sanity. She is blind until the invasion happens, and that conversion is deeply unsettling because it is so unshielded.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving subscribers from coast to coast can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original promo, which has collected over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, giving access to the movie to international horror buffs.


Tune in for this life-altering voyage through terror. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to see these terrifying truths about mankind.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and announcements from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across social media and visit our film’s homepage.





The horror genre’s major pivot: 2025 U.S. rollouts blends old-world possession, independent shockers, plus brand-name tremors

Moving from survival horror suffused with mythic scripture and extending to series comebacks together with surgical indie voices, 2025 looks like the most complex combined with precision-timed year since the mid-2010s.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Major studios bookend the months through proven series, while premium streamers stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs together with primordial unease. Across the art-house lane, the artisan tier is fueled by the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. Since Halloween is the prized date, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are precise, hence 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium genre swings back

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s distribution arm fires the first shot with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in an immediate now. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner releases the last chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Next is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, broadens the animatronic terror cast, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It drops in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: No Budget, No Problem

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. From writer director 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. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a calculated bet. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Brands: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Emerging Currents

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror resurges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

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

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming scare slate: next chapters, Originals, paired with A brimming Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek: The emerging scare calendar clusters early with a January crush, following that spreads through midyear, and continuing into the late-year period, fusing brand equity, new concepts, and strategic counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are committing to cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that transform these pictures into all-audience topics.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has established itself as the surest play in studio slates, a vertical that can accelerate when it hits and still mitigate the floor when it misses. After the 2023 year showed strategy teams that responsibly budgeted entries can own mainstream conversation, 2024 continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and unexpected risers. The momentum extended into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films confirmed there is an opening for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to non-IP projects that translate worldwide. The takeaway for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across the market, with planned clusters, a equilibrium of household franchises and untested plays, and a reinvigorated emphasis on box-office windows that fuel later windows on premium on-demand and digital services.

Schedulers say the horror lane now serves as a utility player on the release plan. Horror can arrive on most weekends, supply a simple premise for promo reels and shorts, and punch above weight with audiences that come out on advance nights and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the movie pays off. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern indicates certainty in that setup. The slate opens with a front-loaded January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while keeping space for a late-year stretch that pushes into the fright window and past Halloween. The layout also includes the tightening integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can launch in limited release, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A further high-level trend is IP stewardship across shared universes and storied titles. Studio teams are not just pushing another chapter. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that ties a next entry to a classic era. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the marquee originals are leaning into material texture, practical effects and grounded locations. That interplay gives the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and freshness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount marks the early tempo with two high-profile pushes that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward character-first story. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a throwback-friendly angle without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Watch for a push anchored in heritage visuals, character-first teases, and a staggered trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will drive large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick turns to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is crisp, soulful, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that evolves into a lethal partner. The date lines it up at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo uncanny live moments and snackable content that melds companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names More about the author in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are positioned as filmmaker events, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway opens a lane to take 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, physical-effects centered approach can feel deluxe on a efficient spend. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that embraces overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a proven supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is selling as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can boost deluxe auditorium demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ladder that amplifies both FOMO and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival wins, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and framing as events arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 runway with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical rollout for the title, an positive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception warrants. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, 2026 tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to pitch each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is leading with core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is steady enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set contextualize the logic. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that held distribution windows did not preclude a day-date try from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, precision craft horror exceeded expectations in premium formats. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they shift 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 two-step approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, allows marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate hint at a continued move toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, 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 lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which play well in booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that center precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is busy. 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 macro-brand pushes. 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 serious, but the menu of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth holds.

Early-year through spring load in summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a opaque tease strategy and limited advance reveals that elevate concept over story.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card spend.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

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

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a warped 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 difficult boss work to survive on a remote island as the hierarchy turns and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 renewed take that returns the monster to dread, anchored by Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting setup that routes the horror through a child’s uncertain subjective view. Rating: forthcoming. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new household anchored to past horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on pure survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: underway. 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-accurate language and primal menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-slotted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured 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 drops. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the efficient band. 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where value-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 capitalize on 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, 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 smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, acoustics, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the frights sell the seats.