Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient dread, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on top streamers

A hair-raising spiritual terror film from screenwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an age-old terror when passersby become proxies in a fiendish trial. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish depiction of endurance and archaic horror that will resculpt terror storytelling this scare season. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and gothic motion picture follows five unacquainted souls who come to stuck in a hidden shelter under the malevolent grip of Kyra, a haunted figure dominated by a millennia-old Old Testament spirit. Arm yourself to be shaken by a theatrical event that integrates bone-deep fear with arcane tradition, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a long-standing tradition in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is subverted when the malevolences no longer emerge from an outside force, but rather deep within. This symbolizes the grimmest layer of the victims. The result is a emotionally raw cognitive warzone where the intensity becomes a unforgiving struggle between light and darkness.


In a desolate backcountry, five young people find themselves stuck under the fiendish influence and inhabitation of a enigmatic apparition. As the ensemble becomes powerless to evade her influence, abandoned and tracked by spirits inconceivable, they are thrust to face their darkest emotions while the time without pity ticks onward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion builds and teams crack, prompting each participant to reconsider their existence and the foundation of independent thought itself. The tension amplify with every fleeting time, delivering a terror ride that blends ghostly evil with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to awaken primitive panic, an threat born of forgotten ages, manipulating emotional vulnerability, and testing a curse that tests the soul when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra meant evoking something rooted in terror. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that shift is gut-wrenching because it is so emotional.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering households across the world can engage with this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its intro video, which has pulled in over strong viewer count.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, offering the tale to international horror buffs.


Witness this life-altering trip into the unknown. Join *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to explore these spiritual awakenings about free will.


For teasers, extra content, and press updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across platforms and visit the official website.





Horror’s pivotal crossroads: calendar year 2025 U.S. release slate integrates myth-forward possession, underground frights, set against legacy-brand quakes

From survival horror infused with primordial scripture and including IP renewals and pointed art-house angles, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex along with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio majors lay down anchors with known properties, in parallel streaming platforms saturate the fall with debut heat in concert with archetypal fear. In parallel, the independent cohort is riding the echoes from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s distribution arm opens the year with a big gambit: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

By late summer, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re engages, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. The stakes escalate here, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, broadens the animatronic terror cast, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror duet led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one digs into 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 reads as sharp positioning. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Signals and Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

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

Originals on platforms bite harder
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forecast: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 scare lineup: next chapters, fresh concepts, plus A Crowded Calendar engineered for goosebumps

Dek: The new scare cycle crowds from day one with a January wave, following that flows through the summer months, and deep into the late-year period, braiding name recognition, new voices, and strategic counterplay. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that elevate the slate’s entries into water-cooler talk.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the predictable counterweight in programming grids, a space that can accelerate when it lands and still limit the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught top brass that responsibly budgeted scare machines can dominate audience talk, the following year carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The tailwind extended into the 2025 frame, where returns and premium-leaning entries showed there is an opening for different modes, from sequel tracks to original one-offs that scale internationally. The result for 2026 is a slate that shows rare alignment across companies, with strategic blocks, a combination of brand names and fresh ideas, and a recommitted emphasis on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on premium digital and home platforms.

Studio leaders note the category now behaves like a fill-in ace on the calendar. The genre can arrive on virtually any date, provide a easy sell for spots and TikTok spots, and outperform with fans that line up on preview nights and continue through the second frame if the title pays off. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 layout exhibits certainty in that playbook. The year starts with a busy January block, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while making space for a October build that connects to late October and past the holiday. The program also reflects the greater integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can grow from platform, fuel WOM, and widen at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across linked properties and veteran brands. Studio teams are not just turning out another entry. They are moving to present brand continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that suggests a tonal shift or a star attachment that connects a new entry to a initial period. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the marquee originals are prioritizing on-set craft, practical gags and grounded locations. That blend yields 2026 a vital pairing of comfort and newness, which is how the films export.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate plays that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the spine, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode character-centered film. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach announces a throwback-friendly framework without covering again the last two entries’ sisters thread. A campaign is expected rooted in iconic art, character-first teases, and a promo sequence slated for late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris this content and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will pursue general-audience talk through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick turns to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three differentiated bets. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is simple, somber, and easily pitched: a grieving man purchases an AI companion that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo strange in-person beats and brief clips that interlaces affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an attention spike closer to the teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s work are positioned as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to maximize 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, makeup-driven treatment can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror blast that centers global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio mounts two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is calling a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and novices. The fall slot allows Sony to build artifacts around canon, and monster craft, elements that can boost premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by immersive craft and historical speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The label has already locked the day for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

Platform lanes and windowing

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on established tracks. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a tiered path that boosts both initial urgency and trial spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances licensed content with international acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, genre hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps options open about originals and festival pickups, dating horror entries near launch and making event-like premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, reimagined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has worked well for prestige horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Series vs standalone

By share, 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 potential drawback, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to brand each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French sensibility from a fresh helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the team and cast is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years clarify the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not hamper a dual release from delivering when the brand was robust. In 2024, director-craft horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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 lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The shop talk behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued move toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which work nicely for expo activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that sing on PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth spreads.

Early-year through spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

August into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited information drops that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s AI companion becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 prickly boss push to survive on a desolate island as the control balance tilts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting scenario that frames the panic through a little one’s volatile inner lens. Rating: to be announced. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-built and A-list fronted supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family snared by older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-core horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

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

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-slotted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where modest-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sonics, and camera work 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand power where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.