Age-old Horror Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling feature, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An unnerving spiritual thriller from writer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primordial terror when foreigners become victims in a satanic game. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a intense tale of perseverance and ancient evil that will reimagine the horror genre this Halloween season. Realized by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and moody thriller follows five lost souls who come to isolated in a unreachable dwelling under the oppressive command of Kyra, a female presence occupied by a ancient holy text monster. Brace yourself to be hooked by a visual venture that harmonizes instinctive fear with spiritual backstory, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a long-standing theme in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is reimagined when the entities no longer arise beyond the self, but rather inside their minds. This embodies the most hidden element of the protagonists. The result is a relentless internal warfare where the conflict becomes a ongoing contest between righteousness and malevolence.


In a wilderness-stricken landscape, five campers find themselves contained under the ghastly sway and curse of a unknown entity. As the cast becomes vulnerable to withstand her dominion, left alone and targeted by spirits impossible to understand, they are compelled to battle their darkest emotions while the seconds without pity counts down toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear deepens and ties shatter, urging each soul to question their true nature and the foundation of self-determination itself. The stakes surge with every instant, delivering a scare-fueled ride that blends otherworldly panic with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dig into primal fear, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, filtering through soul-level flaws, and highlighting a evil that questions who we are when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra needed manifesting something unfamiliar to reason. She is ignorant until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is emotionally raw because it is so internal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving fans from coast to coast can experience this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first trailer, which has collected over 100,000 views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, making the film to viewers around the world.


Join this cinematic path of possession. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to uncover these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For previews, director cuts, and insider scoops from the creators, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official website.





Modern horror’s sea change: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule melds biblical-possession ideas, festival-born jolts, paired with returning-series thunder

Moving from survival horror steeped in biblical myth as well as franchise returns and pointed art-house angles, 2025 stands to become the most textured paired with blueprinted year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio majors plant stakes across the year with familiar IP, at the same time premium streamers load up the fall with debut heat plus old-world menace. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is catching the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Directed by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: vintage toned fear, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It drops in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Digital Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Conceived and directed 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Series Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, steered by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Trend Lines

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror swings back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Fall saturation and a winter joker

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

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 approaching genre release year: returning titles, original films, together with A Crowded Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The incoming terror calendar crams up front with a January traffic jam, then carries through summer, and straight through the holiday stretch, mixing brand equity, new concepts, and shrewd alternatives. The big buyers and platforms are betting on lean spends, theater-first strategies, and shareable marketing that shape the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the sturdy move in annual schedules, a lane that can expand when it hits and still limit the losses when it underperforms. After 2023 reconfirmed for top brass that lean-budget shockers can lead the zeitgeist, the following year carried the beat with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The carry fed into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is space for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to original features that travel well. The result for 2026 is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across the industry, with clear date clusters, a blend of recognizable IP and new packages, and a reinvigorated eye on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now operates like a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, offer a quick sell for marketing and reels, and over-index with fans that line up on Thursday nights and stick through the second frame if the entry works. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern telegraphs conviction in that engine. The slate opens with a front-loaded January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while carving room for a autumn stretch that reaches into late October and past the holiday. The program also underscores the continuing integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and expand at the right moment.

Another broad trend is brand curation across linked properties and veteran brands. Big banners are not just rolling another chapter. They are trying to present lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a new tone or a star attachment that links a incoming chapter to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into material texture, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That mix affords 2026 a vital pairing of known notes and unexpected turns, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate moves that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, angling it as both a succession moment and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a fan-service aware campaign without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive stacked with legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will lean on. As a summer alternative, this one will generate wide buzz through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man activates an AI companion that evolves into a lethal partner. The date puts it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on creepy live activations and brief clips that blurs affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a official title to become an event moment closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are set up as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a second wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a visceral, on-set effects led execution can feel cinematic on a moderate cost. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror shot that emphasizes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is marketing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both diehards and fresh viewers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around lore, and creature design, elements that can accelerate premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes 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 characterized by textural authenticity and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ladder that boosts both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the tail. Prime Video combines outside acquisitions with world buys and small theatrical windows when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using seasonal hubs, holiday hubs, and featured rows to increase tail value on the horror cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival pickups, confirming horror entries toward the drop and eventizing go-lives with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a staged of precision releases and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has indicated interest to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 slate with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clear: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, modernized for modern soundscapes and visuals. 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 suggested a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday corridor to scale. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception justifies. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using precision theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate tips toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap fan equity. The concern, as ever, is staleness. The practical approach is to present each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a rising filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the assembly is familiar enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept streaming intact did not hamper a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was potent. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reorient and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, enables marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without hiatuses.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft rooms behind this year’s genre indicate a continued tilt toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that highlights mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design 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 trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta refresh that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is busy. 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 somber counterpoint amid marquee brands. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that center concept over reveals.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card spend.

Project-by-project 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 take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s machine mate shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss fight to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, driven by Cronin’s practical effects and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting scenario that plays with the unease of a child’s fragile perceptions. Rating: forthcoming. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-built and toplined paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satire sequel that pokes at of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fervors. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 surges, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new clan linked to older hauntings. Rating: pending. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: forthcoming. 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: undisclosed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in progress. 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 historical diction and primordial menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted Young & Cursed in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and pared-down timelines. 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth factor is programming math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades 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.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 lower and mid-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 scale over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundscape, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, original 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.