Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a spine tingling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across top streaming platforms

An unnerving metaphysical fear-driven tale from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried entity when strangers become puppets in a fiendish ceremony. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of resistance and primeval wickedness that will resculpt the fear genre this cool-weather season. Brought to life by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody screenplay follows five people who wake up imprisoned in a far-off cabin under the menacing dominion of Kyra, a female presence overtaken by a biblical-era biblical demon. Steel yourself to be shaken by a screen-based presentation that harmonizes gut-punch terror with arcane tradition, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a recurring tradition in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is turned on its head when the entities no longer develop from external sources, but rather from their psyche. This marks the deepest corner of these individuals. The result is a gripping cognitive warzone where the story becomes a soul-crushing push-pull between divinity and wickedness.


In a haunting wilderness, five figures find themselves trapped under the evil aura and inhabitation of a uncanny character. As the cast becomes paralyzed to break her dominion, exiled and followed by spirits beyond reason, they are pushed to endure their soulful dreads while the timeline unforgivingly ticks toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear escalates and connections break, forcing each protagonist to rethink their personhood and the concept of autonomy itself. The consequences magnify with every second, delivering a paranormal ride that connects otherworldly panic with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to uncover instinctual horror, an evil that existed before mankind, working through human fragility, and examining a evil that erodes the self when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra called for internalizing something deeper than fear. She is unaware until the possession kicks in, and that evolution is shocking because it is so deep.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering horror lovers around the globe can survive this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its initial teaser, which has collected over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, extending the thrill to global fright lovers.


Be sure to catch this mind-warping descent into hell. Confront *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to confront these dark realities about inner darkness.


For cast commentary, making-of footage, and insider scoops from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official movie site.





Horror’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 American release plan braids together Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, paired with franchise surges

Ranging from endurance-driven terror steeped in near-Eastern lore through to canon extensions together with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 stands to become the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with carefully orchestrated year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio powerhouses bookend the months with franchise anchors, in tandem subscription platforms flood the fall with fresh voices plus scriptural shivers. Across the art-house lane, indie storytellers is surfing the uplift from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween holding the peak, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are assertive. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal Pictures sets the tone with a headline swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Led by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer tapers, Warner’s pipeline unveils the final movement from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the outline is tried, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retro dread, trauma driven plotting, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it looks like a certain fall stream.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend starring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The unease is psychological, fused to 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.

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 looks like sharp programming. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims 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 encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forecast: Fall saturation and a winter joker

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming scare year to come: follow-ups, fresh concepts, in tandem with A loaded Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek: The incoming terror cycle clusters at the outset with a January crush, then carries through the warm months, and pushing into the December corridor, braiding brand equity, novel approaches, and smart alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing efficient budgets, box-office-first windows, and social-fueled campaigns that frame these films into all-audience topics.

Horror momentum into 2026

This space has emerged as the sturdy swing in release strategies, a corner that can accelerate when it lands and still protect the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 proved to studio brass that low-to-mid budget pictures can shape audience talk, the following year extended the rally with high-profile filmmaker pieces and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind carried into 2025, where revivals and premium-leaning entries made clear there is appetite for different modes, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that scale internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that presents tight coordination across players, with clear date clusters, a balance of marquee IP and original hooks, and a revived strategy on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on premium home window and streaming.

Buyers contend the horror lane now slots in as a flex slot on the programming map. The genre can kick off on many corridors, supply a clear pitch for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with patrons that turn out on opening previews and sustain through the second weekend if the entry pays off. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 pattern exhibits conviction in that equation. The slate rolls out with a front-loaded January corridor, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while leaving room for a October build that connects to the Halloween corridor and past the holiday. The calendar also features the continuing integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can stage a platform run, stoke social talk, and widen at the right moment.

A companion trend is series management across interlocking continuities and established properties. Major shops are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are setting up threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a new vibe or a ensemble decision that links a latest entry to a early run. At the same time, the visionaries behind the top original plays are leaning into on-set craft, on-set effects and distinct locales. That convergence delivers the 2026 slate a lively combination of brand comfort and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two big-ticket pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the artistic posture hints at a classic-referencing framework without covering again the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that becomes a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise creepy live activations and bite-size content that threads devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title reveal to become an fan moment closer to the initial promo. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are treated as filmmaker events, with a hinting teaser and a follow-up trailer set that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to lead 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a gnarly, physical-effects centered method can feel premium on a efficient spend. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is framing as a clean-slate approach 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 sharper mandate to serve both devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around lore, and monster craft, elements that can increase format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror built on meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that maximizes both launch urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using editorial spots, October hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival additions, securing horror entries toward the drop and framing as events drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a two-step of limited theatrical footprints and accelerated platforming that translates talk to trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a situational basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 track with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception drives. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using mini theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By volume, 2026 bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is comforting enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Rolling three-year comps contextualize the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that held distribution windows did not foreclose a simultaneous release test from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, art-forward horror punched above its weight in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they angle differently and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot consecutively, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate indicate a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and drives shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in con floor moments and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that play in premium auditoriums.

Annual flow

January is packed. Universal’s 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 brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the spread of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. 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 shuffled through big rooms.

Back half into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited teasers that center concept over reveals.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

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 meet a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s intelligent companion becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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: 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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the pecking order inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 residential haunting story that mediates the fear via a youth’s flickering POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

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 spoof revival that targets today’s horror trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July my company 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a different family snared by lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A fresh restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on classic survival-horror tone over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: to be announced. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 historical diction and primordial menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the moment is 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double 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, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 cost-efficient 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 dark-horse hit 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, 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 prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, 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.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.