Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across major platforms

A haunting spectral terror film from creator / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an ancient terror when newcomers become conduits in a hellish contest. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a intense saga of continuance and primordial malevolence that will revamp fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Brought to life by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and eerie story follows five figures who awaken caught in a wilderness-bound cabin under the malignant power of Kyra, a cursed figure occupied by a prehistoric biblical demon. Ready yourself to be captivated by a audio-visual adventure that blends soul-chilling terror with folklore, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a classic motif in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is twisted when the beings no longer manifest from a different plane, but rather within themselves. This echoes the haunting corner of each of them. The result is a enthralling internal warfare where the story becomes a relentless face-off between moral forces.


In a desolate terrain, five campers find themselves contained under the sinister dominion and curse of a unknown woman. As the team becomes submissive to resist her command, detached and tracked by evils mind-shattering, they are forced to deal with their darkest emotions while the moments without pause ticks onward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety builds and teams collapse, requiring each individual to rethink their existence and the nature of decision-making itself. The stakes escalate with every beat, delivering a paranormal ride that marries occult fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to extract ancestral fear, an threat before modern man, manifesting in emotional fractures, and highlighting a power that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant channeling something more primal than sorrow. She is unaware until the evil takes hold, and that evolution is emotionally raw because it is so deep.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing horror lovers anywhere can face this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original clip, which has been viewed over six-figure audience.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, bringing the film to horror fans worldwide.


Make sure to see this cinematic fall into madness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this launch day to see these spiritual awakenings about the mind.


For exclusive trailers, set experiences, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your favorite networks and visit the official website.





The horror genre’s pivotal crossroads: calendar year 2025 U.S. rollouts braids together biblical-possession ideas, independent shockers, alongside series shake-ups

Kicking off with survivor-centric dread drawn from ancient scripture to series comebacks in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 is lining up as the most complex combined with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. leading studios stabilize the year through proven series, in tandem premium streamers crowd the fall with unboxed visions together with archetypal fear. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is carried on the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. Since Halloween is the prized date, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are calculated, therefore 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Elevated fear reclaims ground

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

Universal’s pipeline kicks off the frame with a headline swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. arriving mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Eli Craig directs including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer eases, the Warner lot rolls out the capstone from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: vintage toned fear, trauma explicitly handled, along with eerie supernatural rules. The bar is raised this go, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, courting teens and the thirty something base. It opens in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Firsts: No Budget, No Problem

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No overweight mythology. No series drag. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

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

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

Dials to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror reemerges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

What’s Next: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The 2026 scare calendar year ahead: follow-ups, filmmaker-first projects, and also A Crowded Calendar engineered for frights

Dek The arriving terror slate crowds immediately with a January glut, subsequently runs through the summer months, and carrying into the winter holidays, braiding series momentum, untold stories, and well-timed release strategy. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into tight budgets, theater-first strategies, and social-fueled campaigns that transform genre titles into all-audience topics.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror sector has solidified as the dependable option in studio slates, a corner that can grow when it clicks and still cushion the drawdown when it doesn’t. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that cost-conscious shockers can command pop culture, the following year maintained heat with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The momentum translated to the 2025 frame, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is space for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that play globally. The sum for the 2026 slate is a slate that appears tightly organized across the industry, with intentional bunching, a spread of marquee IP and new concepts, and a reinvigorated eye on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and home platforms.

Schedulers say the genre now performs as a wildcard on the grid. Horror can debut on virtually any date, provide a easy sell for teasers and short-form placements, and over-index with patrons that come out on Thursday nights and keep coming through the second weekend if the film fires. Following a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern exhibits conviction in that engine. The calendar rolls out with a heavy January band, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while keeping space for a fall corridor that flows toward the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The grid also features the increasing integration of indie distributors and streamers that can platform a title, grow buzz, and widen at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across ongoing universes and storied titles. Distribution groups are not just mounting another continuation. They are aiming to frame threaded continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a graphic identity that announces a refreshed voice or a casting choice that threads a next entry to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the creative teams behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on hands-on technique, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That combination delivers 2026 a smart balance of recognition and surprise, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-centered film. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture points to a throwback-friendly treatment without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push centered on recognizable motifs, first images of characters, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will stress. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will generate mass reach through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick adjustments to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man installs an algorithmic mate that mutates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that threads love and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a proper title to become an PR pop closer to the first trailer. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles his comment is here are sold as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a gnarly, prosthetic-heavy strategy can feel elevated on a middle budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that embraces international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is marketing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both players and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster design, elements that can amplify PLF interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on rigorous craft and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. The company has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s releases flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a cadence that optimizes both premiere heat and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in back-catalog play, using in-app campaigns, horror hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about original films and festival deals, securing horror entries with shorter lead times and framing as events go-lives with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a hybrid of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with prestige directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for platform stickiness when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, guiding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas corridor to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception merits. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using precision theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, the 2026 slate leans toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The operating solution is to brand each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is spotlighting character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is recognizable enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was strong. In 2024, director-craft horror punched above its weight in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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 filmed consecutively, lets marketing to thread films through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The production chatter behind these films signal a continued emphasis on practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and guild coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster realization and design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid heavier IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Post-January through spring build the summer base. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a transitional slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited disclosures that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s artificial companion shifts into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 prickly boss work to survive on a rugged island as the chain of command swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fear, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting story that pipes the unease through a kid’s unsteady POV. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-crafted and celebrity-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody return that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 flares, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a different family tethered to long-buried horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-core horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBA. Production: continuing. 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: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the moment is 2026

Three hands-on forces drive this lineup. First, production that eased or re-sequenced in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on social-ready stingers from test screenings, metered scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.