Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on top streamers

An unnerving supernatural horror tale from author / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an prehistoric evil when unfamiliar people become tokens in a fiendish ceremony. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing story of perseverance and archaic horror that will alter the fear genre this fall. Crafted by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and eerie motion picture follows five figures who regain consciousness sealed in a remote shack under the unfriendly sway of Kyra, a central character overtaken by a antiquated Old Testament spirit. Be prepared to be drawn in by a motion picture outing that weaves together gut-punch terror with ancient myths, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a long-standing theme in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is flipped when the forces no longer arise from external sources, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the darkest facet of the group. The result is a bone-chilling mind game where the suspense becomes a brutal push-pull between good and evil.


In a desolate backcountry, five souls find themselves cornered under the dark force and possession of a unknown person. As the companions becomes paralyzed to combat her power, isolated and stalked by beings unnamable, they are required to deal with their core terrors while the moments brutally ticks toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety escalates and bonds collapse, requiring each character to rethink their identity and the integrity of personal agency itself. The risk surge with every beat, delivering a horror experience that intertwines otherworldly panic with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to draw upon basic terror, an curse older than civilization itself, embedding itself in soul-level flaws, and highlighting a presence that peels away humanity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra called for internalizing something deeper than fear. She is uninformed until the control shifts, and that conversion is harrowing because it is so personal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for public screening beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering fans internationally can watch this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first trailer, which has gathered over 100,000 views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, giving access to the movie to lovers of terror across nations.


Make sure to see this visceral exploration of dread. Face *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to acknowledge these terrifying truths about human nature.


For cast commentary, production insights, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official movie site.





The horror genre’s decisive shift: 2025 for genre fans U.S. release slate blends legend-infused possession, independent shockers, plus franchise surges

Ranging from survivor-centric dread rooted in ancient scripture to installment follow-ups set beside focused festival visions, 2025 is lining up as the richest along with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, as premium streamers stack the fall with unboxed visions in concert with mythic dread. On another front, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is buoyed by the echoes of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween holding the peak, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, accordingly 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are assertive. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a marquee bet: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Slated 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 port tuned to austere horror. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma in the foreground, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The next entry deepens the tale, broadens the animatronic terror cast, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. 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 sealed box body horror arc anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated canon. No series drag. 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 Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy IP: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives 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.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
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 retakes ground
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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 like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming fright calendar year ahead: follow-ups, Originals, and also A Crowded Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek: The brand-new horror season loads early with a January cluster, from there extends through the mid-year, and continuing into the holiday frame, balancing brand heft, new concepts, and well-timed calendar placement. Studios with streamers are betting on responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that frame genre releases into mainstream chatter.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The field has grown into the steady move in programming grids, a space that can spike when it breaks through and still hedge the liability when it stumbles. After the 2023 year proved to studio brass that modestly budgeted chillers can lead cultural conversation, 2024 kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and stealth successes. The trend flowed into 2025, where legacy revivals and arthouse crossovers signaled there is room for several lanes, from returning installments to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a run that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with intentional bunching, a combination of established brands and first-time concepts, and a recommitted emphasis on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and home streaming.

Executives say the category now performs as a plug-and-play option on the programming map. The genre can kick off on a wide range of weekends, supply a tight logline for teasers and reels, and punch above weight with audiences that appear on opening previews and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the title connects. Emerging from a production delay era, the 2026 pattern indicates assurance in that setup. The calendar begins with a crowded January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while keeping space for a September to October window that connects to the fright window and afterwards. The gridline also spotlights the continuing integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can platform a title, grow buzz, and widen at the right moment.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and veteran brands. The companies are not just pushing another continuation. They are working to present story carry-over with a headline quality, whether that is a title design that suggests a new vibe or a cast configuration that ties a new installment to a early run. At the very same time, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into tactile craft, practical effects and specific settings. That convergence delivers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of brand comfort and shock, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two centerpiece releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a nostalgia-forward framework without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will lean on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will drive large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is straightforward, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that grows into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that hybridizes companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an headline beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are marketed as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, makeup-driven execution can feel big on a moderate cost. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror charge that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio books two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, sustaining a proven supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is billing as a new foundation 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 focus to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around lore, and monster craft, elements that can fuel large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books 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 defined by historical precision and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre slate transition to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a pacing that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves library titles with global originals and limited cinema engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using curated hubs, fright rows, and curated strips to maximize the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and turning into events debuts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a paired of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown appetite to board select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, retooled for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a standard theatrical run for the title, an promising marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Get More Info Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using select theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, 2026 is weighted toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-accented approach from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-driven titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps make sense of the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not block a simultaneous release test from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in premium screens. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, enables marketing to interlace chapters through relationships and themes and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror point to a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers atmosphere and fear rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft journalism and guild coverage before rolling out a tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which are ideal for booth activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel necessary. Look for trailers that center disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. 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 atmospheric change-up amid bigger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Q1 into Q2 stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 drops hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card use.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

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

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: tone-first 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 prickly boss scramble to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s on-set craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting setup that refracts terror through a little one’s unsteady internal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-crafted and headline-actor led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A send-up revival that pokes at hot-button genre motifs and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked 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 spreads, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household linked to older hauntings. Rating: awaiting classification. 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: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on classic survival-horror tone over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBA. 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: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 primal menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly 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, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lean-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 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sonics, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is name recognition where it counts, new vision where it lands, 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, produce clean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the chills sell the seats.