Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts ancient terror, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

An eerie ghostly fear-driven tale from author / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an age-old curse when outsiders become instruments in a satanic experiment. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense episode of survival and old world terror that will transform the horror genre this cool-weather season. Realized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and shadowy tale follows five lost souls who find themselves sealed in a hidden shelter under the hostile power of Kyra, a young woman consumed by a legendary religious nightmare. Anticipate to be seized by a motion picture presentation that integrates raw fear with mystical narratives, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a long-standing concept in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is flipped when the monsters no longer emerge beyond the self, but rather internally. This symbolizes the most primal corner of each of them. The result is a edge-of-seat identity crisis where the intensity becomes a ongoing contest between heaven and hell.


In a forsaken wilderness, five campers find themselves caught under the ghastly effect and grasp of a enigmatic spirit. As the team becomes incapacitated to oppose her influence, marooned and hunted by beings beyond reason, they are forced to confront their inner horrors while the final hour ruthlessly moves toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear amplifies and ties erode, driving each figure to reflect on their true nature and the idea of autonomy itself. The risk amplify with every breath, delivering a chilling narrative that integrates spiritual fright with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to awaken primal fear, an curse that predates humanity, manipulating mental cracks, and confronting a evil that forces self-examination when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra involved tapping into something beyond human emotion. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that conversion is haunting because it is so deep.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering streamers worldwide can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its release of trailer #1, which has been viewed over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, presenting the nightmare to global fright lovers.


Join this bone-rattling descent into hell. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to dive into these haunting secrets about the mind.


For behind-the-scenes access, special features, and press updates directly from production, follow @YACFilm across media channels and visit youngandcursed.com.





The horror genre’s tipping point: 2025 in focus domestic schedule braids together biblical-possession ideas, festival-born jolts, and brand-name tremors

From survival horror drawn from near-Eastern lore as well as series comebacks plus pointed art-house angles, 2025 stands to become the most textured paired with blueprinted year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses are anchoring the year via recognizable brands, even as digital services load up the fall with emerging auteurs as well as archetypal fear. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is surfing the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are methodical, which means 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

The top end is active. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. Under director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, the WB camp releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: nostalgic menace, trauma explicitly handled, plus otherworld rules that chill. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The return delves further into myth, broadens the animatronic terror cast, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No heavy handed lore. No series drag. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

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 surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

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

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Dials to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror retakes ground
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Projection: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

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 next Horror slate: follow-ups, universe starters, as well as A stacked Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The arriving terror year crowds up front with a January bottleneck, from there extends through the mid-year, and straight through the holidays, marrying marquee clout, fresh ideas, and strategic release strategy. Studios and platforms are betting on cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that turn horror entries into cross-demo moments.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the surest option in studio lineups, a category that can scale when it resonates and still safeguard the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that responsibly budgeted entries can galvanize social chatter, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam carried into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films made clear there is a lane for different modes, from legacy continuations to non-IP projects that export nicely. The end result for 2026 is a run that reads highly synchronized across companies, with intentional bunching, a blend of marquee IP and new packages, and a refocused stance on exclusive windows that power the aftermarket on premium video on demand and subscription services.

Executives say the genre now operates like a wildcard on the grid. Horror can arrive on numerous frames, yield a clean hook for spots and shorts, and outstrip with demo groups that arrive on early shows and hold through the week two if the film delivers. Emerging from a production delay era, the 2026 layout shows confidence in that setup. The calendar commences with a stacked January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a fall run that carries into the Halloween frame and into post-Halloween. The grid also highlights the deeper integration of specialized labels and platforms that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and roll out at the strategic time.

Another broad trend is franchise tending across shared IP webs and storied titles. Distribution groups are not just pushing another return. They are setting up brand continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a brandmark that telegraphs a new tone or a casting choice that threads a incoming chapter to a early run. At the in tandem, the creative leads behind the top original plays are leaning into practical craft, special makeup and vivid settings. That mix hands 2026 a robust balance of home base and newness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount plants an early flag with two high-profile titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the spine, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a heritage-centered character study. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative posture suggests a fan-service aware treatment without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Count on a promo wave fueled by iconic art, character previews, and a tease cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also brings back 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 headline the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format supporting quick redirects to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear strategies. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tight, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man activates an AI companion that grows into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the marketing arm likely to recreate eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that mixes companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as 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 sets up a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. The filmmaker’s films are framed as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second beat that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to dominate 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has demonstrated that a gnarly, physical-effects centered aesthetic can feel big on a controlled budget. Look for a red-band summer horror surge that pushes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a reliable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is calling a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both franchise faithful and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around environmental design, and creature design, elements that can boost IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

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 carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror driven by immersive craft and language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that boosts both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video will mix library titles with cross-border buys and small theatrical windows when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps options open about first-party entries and festival snaps, dating horror entries closer to drop and making event-like launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to invest in select projects with name filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for platform stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 corridor with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is straightforward: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, retooled for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a theatrical-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then pressing the year-end corridor to go wider. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-driven genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception justifies. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using small theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subs.

Legacy titles versus originals

By volume, 2026 tilts in favor of the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to frame each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a new voice. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is familiar enough to spark pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comparable trends from recent years contextualize the logic. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not foreclose a simultaneous release test from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they angle differently and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, allows marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to leave creative active without hiatuses.

Production craft signals

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this slate signal a continued move toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that highlights grain and menace rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead press and guild coverage before rolling out a teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster realization and design, which work nicely for expo activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that spotlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid big-brand pushes. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the spread of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Pre-summer months build the summer base. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a opaque tease strategy and limited plot reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s intelligent companion turns into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 tough boss claw to survive on a rugged island as the pecking order turns and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

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


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting piece that plays with the horror of a child’s tricky senses. Rating: not yet rated. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-built and name-above-title paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fascinations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family anchored to returning horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to Source be announced. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. 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 era-accurate language and elemental menace. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 in flux, fall expected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces inform this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or migrated in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, select scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

The slot calculus is real. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will coexist across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The search for sleepers 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient screen counts, 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 dimensionality, sound field, 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 Shapes Up Strong

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct vision 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.