Age-old Evil Returns in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling chiller, debuting Oct 2025 on major platforms

An unnerving unearthly nightmare movie from cinematographer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an archaic force when unrelated individuals become pawns in a fiendish maze. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing chronicle of struggle and prehistoric entity that will reshape terror storytelling this fall. Brought to life by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody feature follows five figures who emerge sealed in a wilderness-bound cabin under the malevolent command of Kyra, a haunted figure possessed by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Arm yourself to be seized by a theatrical spectacle that fuses raw fear with biblical origins, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a well-established trope in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is reimagined when the dark entities no longer emerge beyond the self, but rather from within. This portrays the haunting corner of the cast. The result is a harrowing internal warfare where the story becomes a soul-crushing struggle between good and evil.


In a bleak woodland, five souls find themselves marooned under the unholy aura and possession of a enigmatic being. As the survivors becomes incapable to oppose her command, detached and attacked by terrors beyond comprehension, they are made to reckon with their greatest panics while the doomsday meter harrowingly ticks onward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear escalates and partnerships crack, coercing each protagonist to scrutinize their being and the nature of free will itself. The danger mount with every fleeting time, delivering a nightmarish journey that merges otherworldly panic with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to tap into primitive panic, an malevolence older than civilization itself, working through fragile psyche, and questioning a presence that forces self-examination when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant channeling something outside normal anguish. She is blind until the haunting manifests, and that transition is eerie because it is so unshielded.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing users from coast to coast can survive this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original promo, which has collected over six-figure audience.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, making the film to viewers around the world.


Don’t miss this visceral journey into fear. Join *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to survive these dark realities about mankind.


For sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and press updates straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACMovie across media channels and visit the official website.





Horror’s tipping point: 2025 domestic schedule integrates myth-forward possession, indie terrors, stacked beside IP aftershocks

Kicking off with survivor-centric dread rooted in scriptural legend and including returning series as well as sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 appears poised to be the genre’s most multifaceted plus tactically planned year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. the big studios bookend the months through proven series, in tandem premium streamers pack the fall with emerging auteurs and scriptural shivers. On another front, horror’s indie wing is fueled by the afterglow of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween stays the prime week, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The fall stretch is the proving field, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, as a result 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal sets the tone with a statement play: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Steered by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial heat flags it as potent.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, plus otherworld rules that chill. The stakes escalate here, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a two hander body horror spiral fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Next comes Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 is a clever angle. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are more runway than museum.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits 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.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, led by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror resurges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching chiller calendar year ahead: brand plays, original films, and also A loaded Calendar calibrated for chills

Dek The fresh genre season builds up front with a January bottleneck, before it runs through the summer months, and straight through the December corridor, combining series momentum, original angles, and shrewd offsets. Studio marketers and platforms are relying on mid-range economics, theatrical leads, and buzz-forward plans that pivot the slate’s entries into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror marketplace has grown into the dependable swing in programming grids, a lane that can scale when it clicks and still buffer the drawdown when it underperforms. After the 2023 year demonstrated to buyers that mid-range entries can lead social chatter, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The carry translated to the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and elevated films confirmed there is a lane for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to original features that translate worldwide. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a schedule that is strikingly coherent across the major shops, with planned clusters, a mix of legacy names and new packages, and a renewed strategy on theatrical windows that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now slots in as a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can debut on nearly any frame, provide a easy sell for previews and TikTok spots, and lead with ticket buyers that line up on advance nights and sustain through the next pass if the release fires. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence demonstrates confidence in that approach. The calendar launches with a loaded January run, then primes spring and early summer for alternate plays, while making space for a fall cadence that reaches into the Halloween corridor and beyond. The calendar also shows the ongoing integration of specialized labels and SVOD players that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and grow at the proper time.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across unified worlds and legacy IP. Big banners are not just turning out another next film. They are working to present continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title design that conveys a new tone or a star attachment that connects a next film to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the writer-directors behind the most watched originals are favoring physical effects work, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That interplay yields 2026 a lively combination of known notes and unexpected turns, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, positioning the film as both a handoff and a return-to-roots character study. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a classic-referencing strategy without looping the last two entries’ sibling arc. Expect a marketing push driven by brand visuals, first images of characters, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also relaunches 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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after mainstream recognition through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to replay strange in-person beats and brief clips that interlaces longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s work are treated as event films, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to fill 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-effects forward execution can feel elevated on a middle budget. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is presenting as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both players and novices. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around canon, and creature builds, elements that can stoke PLF interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that maximizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and collection rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival grabs, dating horror entries toward the drop and staging as events rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of precision releases and short jumps to platform that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to secure select projects with award winners or star packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly activity when the genre conversation surges.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 arc 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 clean: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, updated for modern soundscapes and visuals. 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 flagged a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has proved effective for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a cluster 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 screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Legacy titles versus originals

By share, the 2026 slate tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The practical approach is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-inflected take from a fresh helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. imp source Werwulf anchors in period detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is known enough to accelerate early sales and early previews.

Comps from the last three years announce the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reorient and elevate scope. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, allows marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries forecast a continued preference for tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on tone and tension rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined 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 enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely tease 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 creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature execution and sets, which work nicely for expo activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar cadence

January is full. Universal’s 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 heavier IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the range of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Post-January through spring load in summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now sustains 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss battle to survive on a far-flung island as the hierarchy upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, founded on Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting premise that filters its scares through a little one’s flickering internal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody reboot that satirizes today’s horror trends and true crime fervors. Rating: undetermined. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further widens again, with a young family entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward classic survival-horror tone over action-forward bombast. Rating: pending. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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-faithful speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why this year, why now

Three operational forces define this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 drops. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, select scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 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 maximize those pockets. 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, audio design, 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand gravity where needed, filmmaker 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, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.