Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 across premium platforms

This terrifying mystic horror tale from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an archaic malevolence when guests become vehicles in a malevolent contest. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of struggle and ancient evil that will revamp the horror genre this harvest season. Produced by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie thriller follows five teens who are stirred isolated in a far-off cottage under the malignant command of Kyra, a possessed female claimed by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Be warned to be gripped by a big screen ride that melds raw fear with arcane tradition, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a legendary narrative in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is radically shifted when the presences no longer originate externally, but rather within themselves. This depicts the deepest side of the group. The result is a enthralling identity crisis where the intensity becomes a ongoing conflict between moral forces.


In a haunting landscape, five souls find themselves imprisoned under the dark sway and domination of a enigmatic apparition. As the team becomes defenseless to break her influence, cut off and followed by entities ungraspable, they are driven to deal with their core terrors while the doomsday meter ruthlessly pushes forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust escalates and friendships implode, compelling each figure to contemplate their character and the idea of liberty itself. The stakes escalate with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that harmonizes demonic fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to extract raw dread, an darkness that predates humanity, operating within fragile psyche, and highlighting a evil that questions who we are when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra required summoning something past sanity. She is oblivious until the possession kicks in, and that turn is gut-wrenching because it is so internal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing streamers in all regions can face this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its initial teaser, which has collected over 100,000 views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, delivering the story to scare fans abroad.


Tune in for this cinematic descent into darkness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to face these terrifying truths about existence.


For cast commentary, making-of footage, and reveals via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across fan hubs and visit the movie’s homepage.





The horror genre’s pivotal crossroads: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate melds archetypal-possession themes, underground frights, and Franchise Rumbles

From last-stand terror drawn from old testament echoes and extending to brand-name continuations plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 looks like the richest paired with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Major studios plant stakes across the year with known properties, as SVOD players pack the fall with fresh voices as well as ancient terrors. On another front, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is carried on the afterglow from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the other windows are mapped with care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, yet in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are exacting, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal starts the year with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in an immediate now. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. dated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. rolls out the capstone from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The bar is raised this go, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing 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.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Authored and directed 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. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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 calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No brand fatigue. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

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

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Long Running Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Trends to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror resurges
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: 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. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The 2026 Horror Year Ahead: brand plays, non-franchise titles, in tandem with A hectic Calendar geared toward jolts

Dek The incoming horror calendar crams up front with a January wave, thereafter extends through summer, and running into the year-end corridor, fusing legacy muscle, new concepts, and calculated counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are embracing efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that elevate these offerings into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has become the steady tool in distribution calendars, a space that can spike when it catches and still cushion the losses when it underperforms. After 2023 showed studio brass that low-to-mid budget scare machines can galvanize mainstream conversation, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and stealth successes. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is room for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to filmmaker-driven originals that carry overseas. The upshot for 2026 is a roster that reads highly synchronized across companies, with mapped-out bands, a spread of known properties and untested plays, and a renewed emphasis on box-office windows that drive downstream revenue on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the space now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the grid. Horror can open on nearly any frame, offer a simple premise for spots and social clips, and overperform with moviegoers that arrive on preview nights and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the entry hits. Following a production delay era, the 2026 mapping demonstrates faith in that model. The slate starts with a heavy January schedule, then targets spring into early summer for contrast, while reserving space for a autumn push that runs into the fright window and into early November. The layout also reflects the increasing integration of specialized labels and OTT outlets that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and move wide at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and legacy IP. Studios are not just turning out another follow-up. They are working to present story carry-over with a specialness, whether that is a art treatment that announces a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that connects a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the simultaneously, the writer-directors behind the high-profile originals are favoring hands-on technique, in-camera effects and concrete locations. That fusion hands the 2026 slate a robust balance of brand comfort and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket entries that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the spine, signaling it as both a legacy handover and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the story approach signals a nostalgia-forward mode without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push centered on signature symbols, first images of characters, and a trailer cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also revives 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 linchpin the campaign will foreground. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will drive large awareness through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick switches to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tidy, somber, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that evolves into a killer companion. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with Universal’s promo team likely to iterate on odd public stunts and short-form creative that melds attachment and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are presented as signature events, with a hinting teaser and a subsequent trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has made clear that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered strategy can feel cinematic on a mid-range budget. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror jolt that leans into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio lines up two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a evergreen supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is framing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both loyalists and general audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build materials around universe detail, and creature effects, elements that can amplify large-format demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in textural authenticity and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus’s team has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is robust.

Digital platform strategies

Platform strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a stair-step that maximizes both initial urgency and viewer acquisition in the tail. Prime Video stitches together outside acquisitions with global pickups and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and handpicked rows to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix keeps flexible about own-slate titles and festival buys, slotting horror entries tight to release and framing as events releases with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a paired of selective theatrical runs and prompt platform moves that translates talk to trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to purchase select projects with recognized filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 corridor with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, recalibrated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday dates to widen. That positioning has paid off for director-led genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception allows. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on legacy awareness. The risk, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to market each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-inflected take from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is grounded enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

Rolling three-year comps outline the approach. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that respected streaming windows did not block a day-date move from delivering when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror punched above its weight in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and raise the stakes. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to cross-link entries through character spine and themes and to keep assets in-market without dead zones.

Behind-the-camera trends

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror foreshadow a continued preference for tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that emphasizes unease and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft profiles and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-aware reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which fit with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that center precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that work in PLF.

How the year maps out

January is crowded. 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 brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends 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 meaningful, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver 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 run their PLF course.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. 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 shoulder-season slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: More about the author 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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power turns and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

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 fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, shaped by Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting tale that leverages the fear of a child’s tricky senses. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. 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 involved creatively again. Logline: {A spoof revival that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a unlucky family linked to lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: pending. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving forward. 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 time-true diction and elemental dread. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces drive this lineup. First, production that decelerated or reshuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest clippable moments from test screenings, select scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 intensity.

The dark-horse hunt 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sonics, and image-making 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is name recognition where it counts, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.