Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

A frightening spiritual thriller from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried force when foreigners become victims in a diabolical trial. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving chronicle of living through and ancient evil that will remodel terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Helmed by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and tone-heavy feature follows five lost souls who regain consciousness isolated in a far-off structure under the aggressive power of Kyra, a troubled woman claimed by a time-worn biblical demon. Be prepared to be enthralled by a filmic venture that intertwines primitive horror with timeless legends, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a time-honored trope in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is inverted when the monsters no longer appear from a different plane, but rather from their core. This marks the malevolent part of every character. The result is a riveting psychological battle where the events becomes a relentless struggle between purity and corruption.


In a haunting forest, five friends find themselves contained under the sinister effect and spiritual invasion of a shadowy female figure. As the group becomes paralyzed to deny her control, disconnected and pursued by entities beyond comprehension, they are confronted to acknowledge their core terrors while the deathwatch unceasingly winds toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia surges and connections erode, driving each individual to scrutinize their being and the notion of self-determination itself. The risk amplify with every instant, delivering a scare-fueled ride that weaves together otherworldly panic with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to awaken elemental fright, an evil that existed before mankind, manipulating psychological breaks, and wrestling with a will that dismantles free will when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra called for internalizing something rooted in terror. She is uninformed until the takeover begins, and that flip is eerie because it is so intimate.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for on-demand beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving horror lovers across the world can survive this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its intro video, which has earned over six-figure audience.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, delivering the story to a worldwide audience.


Don’t miss this gripping voyage through terror. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to dive into these fearful discoveries about the mind.


For bonus footage, production insights, and news from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across entertainment pages and visit the movie’s homepage.





Current horror’s sea change: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup melds archetypal-possession themes, underground frights, alongside tentpole growls

Beginning with pressure-cooker survival tales infused with legendary theology all the way to series comebacks in concert with keen independent perspectives, 2025 stands to become the most textured together with intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. the big studios plant stakes across the year through proven series, while premium streamers crowd the fall with new voices together with legend-coded dread. In parallel, the independent cohort is riding the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween stays the prime week, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. landing in mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer fades, the Warner lot releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the outline is tried, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: period tinged dread, trauma as theme, with ghostly inner logic. The bar is raised this go, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It opens in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Conceived 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is canny scheduling. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are more runway than museum.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic dread mainstreams
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror ascends again
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

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 brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The approaching terror season: entries, original films, together with A hectic Calendar optimized for chills

Dek: The new scare calendar crams immediately with a January traffic jam, before it carries through summer corridors, and well into the year-end corridor, braiding name recognition, new voices, and strategic calendar placement. Distributors with platforms are embracing mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-driven marketing that position the slate’s entries into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The horror marketplace has proven to be the bankable swing in annual schedules, a genre that can break out when it connects and still safeguard the drag when it misses. After 2023 signaled to buyers that disciplined-budget chillers can command the discourse, the following year carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and surprise hits. The trend flowed into the 2025 frame, where revivals and critical darlings proved there is appetite for many shades, from series extensions to director-led originals that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a programming that seems notably aligned across companies, with mapped-out bands, a combination of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a renewed emphasis on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on PVOD and streaming.

Studio leaders note the space now performs as a wildcard on the slate. The genre can launch on most weekends, deliver a simple premise for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with audiences that lean in on early shows and maintain momentum through the next pass if the film fires. Post a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration signals trust in that dynamic. The year gets underway with a busy January block, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while keeping space for a fall cadence that stretches into late October and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the expanded integration of specialized labels and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and roll out at the inflection point.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across linked properties and established properties. The players are not just producing another installment. They are seeking to position brand continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title design that signals a new vibe or a star attachment that anchors a new entry to a heyday. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the marquee originals are celebrating on-set craft, physical gags and specific settings. That mix gives 2026 a confident blend of recognition and invention, which is why the genre exports well.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount sets the tone early with two spotlight titles that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the focus, framing it as both a handoff and a classic-mode character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative posture conveys a throwback-friendly bent without replaying the last two entries’ sisters thread. Look for a marketing run fueled by heritage visuals, character previews, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also resurrects 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will drive wide buzz through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever owns the discourse that spring.

Universal has three clear entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man sets up an intelligent companion that becomes a perilous partner. The date locates it at the front of a stacked January, with marketing at Universal likely to renew strange in-person beats and short-form creative that mixes love and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a public title to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are treated as event films, with a minimalist tease and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-October frame affords Universal to fill 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has shown that a raw, in-camera leaning aesthetic can feel deluxe on a mid-range budget. Look for a red-band summer horror rush that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio places two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around setting detail, and creature design, elements that can lift format premiums and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on careful craft and archaic language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The company news has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is warm.

Digital platform strategies

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles window into copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that expands both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with international acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog discovery, using well-timed internal promotions, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to maximize the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix films and festival buys, locking in horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of limited theatrical footprints and short jumps to platform that turns chatter to conversion. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to acquire select projects with established have a peek at these guys auteurs or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is simple: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, modernized for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has shown results for prestige horror with wider appeal. 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 credible outlook is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception encourages. Look 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 in concert, using select theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, the 2026 slate bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage fan equity. The risk, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is foregrounding character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French sensibility from a buzzed-about director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and auteur plays add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is grounded enough to accelerate early sales and advance-audience nights.

Comparable trends from recent years make sense of the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept streaming intact did not foreclose a hybrid test from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reorient and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, gives leeway to marketing to bridge entries through cast and motif and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

Production craft signals

The creative meetings behind this slate signal 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 echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates texture and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature craft and set design, which match well with fan conventions and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that benefit on big speakers.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. 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 moody palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now enables 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Back half into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a transitional slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited pre-release reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and card redemption.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 difficult boss battle to survive on a remote island as the control balance reverses and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to dread, built on Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting piece that explores the chill of a child’s tricky perceptions. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-built and toplined ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that targets contemporary horror memes and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 ignites, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further widens again, with a unlucky family tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 language and elemental fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 lands now

Three pragmatic forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and leaner 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 beaten straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, metered scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 stealth-hit search 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc 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 pace and range. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, 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 appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, audio design, 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is recognizable IP where it plays, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.