Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

A eerie ghostly suspense film from storyteller / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an timeless force when unknowns become tools in a fiendish ceremony. Available October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a intense portrayal of endurance and prehistoric entity that will reimagine genre cinema this season. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and atmospheric film follows five figures who wake up locked in a wilderness-bound dwelling under the oppressive sway of Kyra, a haunted figure controlled by a timeless scriptural evil. Prepare to be absorbed by a immersive venture that blends bodily fright with timeless legends, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a recurring fixture in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is turned on its head when the entities no longer originate beyond the self, but rather from their core. This embodies the most primal corner of the victims. The result is a psychologically brutal cognitive warzone where the plotline becomes a relentless face-off between purity and corruption.


In a isolated landscape, five souls find themselves confined under the fiendish presence and possession of a obscure female presence. As the companions becomes incapable to withstand her command, severed and pursued by presences ungraspable, they are driven to face their emotional phantoms while the hours relentlessly edges forward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and associations erode, pushing each soul to scrutinize their essence and the principle of volition itself. The cost climb with every heartbeat, delivering a scare-fueled ride that blends otherworldly panic with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to awaken ancestral fear, an threat from prehistory, filtering through our weaknesses, and confronting a entity that dismantles free will when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra needed manifesting something deeper than fear. She is oblivious until the takeover begins, and that evolution is soul-crushing because it is so private.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that horror lovers across the world can dive into this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over 100,000 views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, extending the thrill to viewers around the world.


Do not miss this heart-stopping voyage through terror. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to dive into these nightmarish insights about the psyche.


For director insights, on-set glimpses, and updates from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the film’s website.





Horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar braids together myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Running from survival horror saturated with scriptural legend and extending to legacy revivals set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the most dimensioned along with tactically planned year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Top studios hold down the year with franchise anchors, as platform operators saturate the fall with emerging auteurs together with archetypal fear. Across the art-house lane, indie storytellers is propelled by the echoes from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the other windows are mapped with care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, though in this cycle, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are exacting, therefore 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are assertive. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline kicks off the frame with a confident swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Steered by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. While the template is known, 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.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re boards, and those signature textures resurface: 70s style chill, trauma as narrative engine, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It drops in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror duet anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No swollen lore. No legacy baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

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

Series Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

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. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight 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. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new fright cycle: continuations, Originals, in tandem with A jammed Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new horror calendar packs early with a January glut, after that spreads through June and July, and carrying into the festive period, fusing IP strength, creative pitches, and shrewd counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on lean spends, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that position these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has proven to be the sturdy counterweight in programming grids, a corner that can spike when it catches and still buffer the risk when it does not. After the 2023 year reassured strategy teams that efficiently budgeted fright engines can lead the zeitgeist, the following year held pace with high-profile filmmaker pieces and sleeper breakouts. The trend extended into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers proved there is demand for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that translate worldwide. The upshot for 2026 is a grid that is strikingly coherent across companies, with purposeful groupings, a combination of established brands and original hooks, and a reinvigorated commitment on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Executives say the space now performs as a utility player on the slate. The genre can launch on open real estate, generate a simple premise for teasers and platform-native cuts, and lead with viewers that lean in on first-look nights and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the title hits. After a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 rhythm signals comfort in that engine. The calendar opens with a crowded January lineup, then plants flags in spring and early summer for contrast, while making space for a fall cadence that runs into late October and into the next week. The arrangement also illustrates the increasing integration of specialized labels and digital platforms that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and expand at the precise moment.

A second macro trend is IP cultivation across unified worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just pushing another chapter. They are trying to present story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that indicates a reframed mood or a talent selection that anchors a latest entry to a heyday. At the very same time, the helmers behind the headline-grabbing originals are doubling down on real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and site-specific worlds. That interplay hands 2026 a strong blend of home base and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a succession moment and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture hints at a classic-referencing campaign without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave built on brand visuals, character previews, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will feature. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after mass reach through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick reframes to whatever shapes trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tidy, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that mutates into a fatal companion. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that interweaves devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates 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 listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are positioned as this page director events, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, on-set effects led strategy can feel cinematic on a efficient spend. Look for a red-band summer horror rush that maximizes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio rolls out two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, preserving a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is billing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around lore, and monster design, elements that can accelerate premium screens and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror built on obsessive craft and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. The distributor has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that amplifies both week-one demand and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video stitches together catalogue additions with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library curation, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and programmed rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival pickups, finalizing horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a staged of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with prestige directors or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 sequence with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clean: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for director-led genre 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 commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception encourages. Expect 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 concert, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By weight, 2026 skews toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is bringing forward character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a rising filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and director-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is recognizable enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night turnout.

The last three-year set announce the plan. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not deter a day-date move from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind 2026 horror forecast a continued lean toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that spotlights tone and tension rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature design and production design, which favor expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the tone spread affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

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

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a opaque tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that put concept first.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s intelligent companion grows into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads 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: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: gothic-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 tough boss try to survive on a isolated island as the control balance shifts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to dread, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting premise that refracts terror through a minor’s flickering internal vantage. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-crafted and marquee-led haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that pokes at hot-button genre motifs and true crime fervors. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 breaks out, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a young family tethered to long-buried horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on classic survival-horror tone over action-forward bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: to be announced. Production: in progress. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and elemental dread. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up check over here with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces define this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-slotted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work bite-size scare clips from test screenings, curated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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

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

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, 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 build month to month, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is franchise muscle where it helps, 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the chills sell the seats.