Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes ancient dread, a chilling supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across top digital platforms

An frightening spectral suspense story from cinematographer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an prehistoric malevolence when unknowns become proxies in a diabolical struggle. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing portrayal of survival and timeless dread that will revamp the horror genre this season. Directed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and emotionally thick motion picture follows five lost souls who awaken isolated in a hidden cottage under the menacing influence of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a prehistoric biblical demon. Ready yourself to be ensnared by a audio-visual display that harmonizes raw fear with timeless legends, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a recurring concept in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is challenged when the monsters no longer manifest from beyond, but rather from their psyche. This represents the most primal shade of each of them. The result is a enthralling psychological battle where the plotline becomes a merciless tug-of-war between purity and corruption.


In a forsaken backcountry, five figures find themselves stuck under the sinister force and curse of a secretive person. As the survivors becomes submissive to combat her rule, exiled and attacked by forces unfathomable, they are driven to confront their deepest fears while the final hour without pause ticks onward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion deepens and ties shatter, urging each soul to rethink their self and the concept of free will itself. The pressure mount with every beat, delivering a scare-fueled ride that combines supernatural terror with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to channel raw dread, an power older than civilization itself, operating within psychological breaks, and wrestling with a being that redefines identity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant channeling something darker than pain. She is blind until the takeover begins, and that flip is shocking because it is so intimate.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing subscribers worldwide can face this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its first preview, which has garnered over 100,000 views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, extending the thrill to global fright lovers.


Experience this haunted fall into madness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to dive into these terrifying truths about our species.


For sneak peeks, production insights, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit our film’s homepage.





Horror’s tipping point: 2025 U.S. lineup interlaces ancient-possession motifs, indie terrors, set against brand-name tremors

Kicking off with survival horror suffused with near-Eastern lore to legacy revivals paired with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is lining up as the most dimensioned paired with deliberate year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios set cornerstones via recognizable brands, simultaneously digital services prime the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus mythic dread. On another front, the independent cohort is surfing the echoes from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the other windows are mapped with care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are precise, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures sets the tone with a big gambit: a refashioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. targeting mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early reactions hint at fangs.

By late summer, the Warner Bros. banner releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma centered writing, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, bridging teens and legacy players. It drops in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror duet pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is canny scheduling. No overstuffed canon. No sequel clutter. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy IP: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror retakes ground
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Big screen is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The upcoming genre lineup: next chapters, Originals, as well as A Crowded Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The arriving scare slate loads immediately with a January cluster, thereafter stretches through midyear, and pushing into the holidays, marrying legacy muscle, new voices, and savvy counterplay. Studios and streamers are embracing smart costs, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that pivot these films into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has grown into the dependable release in distribution calendars, a genre that can spike when it lands and still mitigate the losses when it does not. After 2023 showed executives that cost-conscious horror vehicles can command the zeitgeist, the following year extended the rally with buzzy auteur projects and word-of-mouth wins. The upswing flowed into 2025, where returns and arthouse crossovers proved there is appetite for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to original one-offs that carry overseas. The end result for 2026 is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of established brands and original hooks, and a re-energized attention on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital rental and SVOD.

Insiders argue the category now performs as a schedule utility on the calendar. The genre can roll out on numerous frames, yield a quick sell for ad units and platform-native cuts, and overperform with demo groups that arrive on previews Thursday and stick through the subsequent weekend if the title works. In the wake of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 layout exhibits certainty in that model. The year gets underway with a stacked January corridor, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a autumn stretch that connects to Halloween and past the holiday. The arrangement also includes the deeper integration of specialty arms and digital platforms that can platform a title, spark evangelism, and widen at the timely point.

A second macro trend is series management across interlocking continuities and veteran brands. The companies are not just pushing another return. They are setting up connection with a sense of event, whether that is a graphic identity that indicates a re-angled tone or a star attachment that links a latest entry to a original cycle. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are celebrating hands-on technique, physical gags and grounded locations. That convergence provides the 2026 slate a healthy mix of assurance and shock, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a relay and a heritage-centered relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a nostalgia-forward mode without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in recognizable motifs, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after mass reach through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick adjustments to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, grief-rooted, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an digital partner that becomes a perilous partner. The date puts it at the front of a heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that interweaves attachment and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an headline beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are marketed as auteur events, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor affords Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a gritty, practical-effects forward strategy can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror charge that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is marketing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both franchise faithful and casuals. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build artifacts around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

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 follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in obsessive craft and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a structure that boosts both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video stitches together licensed content with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and collection rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival pickups, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and framing as events releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a two-step of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has signaled readiness to acquire select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is mapping 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 angle is clean: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the October weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then using the holiday slot to move out. That positioning has helped for director-led genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception justifies. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using limited theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, 2026 bends toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The concern, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is centering character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold 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 tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the team and cast is comforting enough to build pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years announce the model. In 2023, a theater-first model that maintained windows did not foreclose a dual release from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations 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 angle differently and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, enables marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs and to leave creative active without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind this year’s genre indicate a continued emphasis on real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a preview that withholds plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta recalibration that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature and environment design, which fit with convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is packed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month ends 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 variety of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring prime the summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a slow-reveal plan and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card use.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s AI companion turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss claw to survive on a lonely island as the chain of command tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fright, grounded in Cronin’s tactile craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 family-home haunting tale that frames the panic through a preteen’s uncertain internal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed and celebrity-led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satirical comeback that pokes at of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. this website domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan tethered to long-buried horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: not yet rated. Production: continuing. 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 antique diction and ancient menace. Rating: TBD. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-slotted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into imp source a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound field, and visual design 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

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand heft where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.