Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This bone-chilling mystic shockfest from author / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an age-old evil when foreigners become tools in a fiendish contest. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish tale of continuance and forgotten curse that will revolutionize the fear genre this season. Brought to life by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and tone-heavy film follows five young adults who come to ensnared in a unreachable dwelling under the malignant control of Kyra, a possessed female controlled by a timeless sacrosanct terror. Ready yourself to be shaken by a narrative display that weaves together primitive horror with legendary tales, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a classic pillar in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is challenged when the demons no longer develop beyond the self, but rather from within. This embodies the grimmest layer of every character. The result is a enthralling moral showdown where the conflict becomes a brutal tug-of-war between purity and corruption.


In a isolated backcountry, five young people find themselves trapped under the possessive rule and curse of a unidentified apparition. As the team becomes incapacitated to resist her influence, abandoned and pursued by evils mind-shattering, they are obligated to acknowledge their deepest fears while the time ruthlessly edges forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and teams collapse, prompting each protagonist to evaluate their being and the principle of conscious will itself. The consequences mount with every tick, delivering a nightmarish journey that connects mystical fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore instinctual horror, an power that predates humanity, working through emotional vulnerability, and navigating a presence that strips down our being when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra needed manifesting something beneath mortal despair. She is innocent until the demon emerges, and that shift is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be available for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing streamers across the world can get immersed in this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has seen over 100,000 views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, giving access to the movie to global fright lovers.


Avoid skipping this mind-warping trip into the unknown. Stream *Young & Cursed* this launch day to face these terrifying truths about the mind.


For previews, production news, and social posts from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season stateside slate melds archetypal-possession themes, indie terrors, in parallel with returning-series thunder

Beginning with life-or-death fear drawn from scriptural legend and stretching into series comebacks paired with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be the genre’s most multifaceted together with blueprinted year in years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. the big studios lay down anchors using marquee IP, in tandem digital services pack the fall with new voices alongside scriptural shivers. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a risk-forward move: a refashioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Slated for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson resumes command, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma as narrative engine, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The new chapter enriches the lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It drops in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

SVOD Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a sealed box body horror arc with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back 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.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is canny scheduling. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. 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 is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

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

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

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

SVOD originals harden up
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new chiller slate: installments, standalone ideas, and also A Crowded Calendar aimed at chills

Dek: The brand-new genre slate crams up front with a January wave, subsequently unfolds through the mid-year, and continuing into the holiday frame, weaving name recognition, creative pitches, and savvy release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing lean spends, theatrical leads, and shareable marketing that transform these releases into mainstream chatter.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has become the steady lever in release plans, a segment that can expand when it connects and still hedge the downside when it does not. After the 2023 year re-taught greenlighters that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can galvanize social chatter, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing flowed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and festival-grade titles underscored there is room for diverse approaches, from series extensions to fresh IP that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a slate that is strikingly coherent across companies, with purposeful groupings, a combination of brand names and original hooks, and a reinvigorated stance on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and digital services.

Planners observe the category now behaves like a wildcard on the release plan. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, provide a clean hook for promo reels and vertical videos, and outpace with fans that line up on advance nights and hold through the sophomore frame if the entry lands. On the heels of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 configuration shows trust in that playbook. The calendar rolls out with a front-loaded January corridor, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a September to October window that connects to late October and past the holiday. The arrangement also reflects the tightening integration of indie distributors and subscription services that can platform and widen, fuel WOM, and widen at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is franchise tending across interlocking continuities and legacy franchises. The companies are not just releasing another entry. They are shaping as threaded continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a graphic identity that conveys a new vibe or a star attachment that bridges a next entry to a vintage era. At the same time, the visionaries behind the marquee originals are favoring physical effects work, special makeup and distinct locales. That mix gives 2026 a confident blend of comfort and newness, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a nostalgia-forward campaign without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Plan for a rollout anchored in legacy iconography, character previews, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will generate mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is crisp, somber, and high-concept: a grieving man brings home an virtual partner that evolves into a dangerous lover. The date locates it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back creepy live activations and short reels that threads intimacy and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a name unveil to become an earned moment closer to the initial promo. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele projects are framed as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a later trailer push that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The prime October weekend gives the studio room to take 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has proven that a gritty, physical-effects centered execution can feel deluxe on a middle budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio sets two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, holding a reliable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is describing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around universe detail, and monster design, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by minute detail and textual fidelity, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is warm.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that maximizes both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines licensed films with global acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix retains agility about first-party entries and festival additions, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and framing as events drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 lane with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a standard theatrical run for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas window to scale. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Plan on 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 together, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their user base.

Known brands versus new stories

By tilt, the 2026 slate skews toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on brand equity. The concern, as ever, is brand erosion. The standing approach is to market each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the team and cast is recognizable enough to accelerate early sales and early previews.

The last three-year set frame the logic. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not preclude a day-date try from thriving when the brand was robust. In 2024, precision craft horror outperformed in premium large format. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to relate entries through protagonists and motifs and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror suggest a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that leans on tone and tension rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead press and guild coverage before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature and environment design, which lend themselves to convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that underscore pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that benefit on big speakers.

From winter to holidays

January is crowded. 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 foggy reset amid heftier brand moves. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tonal variety makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late winter and spring stage summer. Scream 7 this contact form comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. 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 rotated off PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a bridge slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited asset reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s virtual companion mutates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: atmospheric game 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 battle to survive on a desolate island as the power balance of power turns and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to terror, shaped by Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting scenario that mediates the fear via a youngster’s unreliable subjective view. Rating: rating pending. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural 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 parody return that targets current genre trends and true-crime obsessions. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new household bound to returning horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three grounded forces structure this lineup. First, production that decelerated or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, select scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will trade weekends across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 this page intensity.

The sleeper-hit hunt 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for click site 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, optimized footprints, 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, aural design, 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 Shapes Up Strong

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.