Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

An unnerving paranormal fear-driven tale from creator / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an prehistoric entity when unfamiliar people become vehicles in a supernatural contest. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing story of endurance and ancient evil that will reconstruct the fear genre this October. Visualized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and eerie story follows five young adults who come to isolated in a isolated structure under the sinister manipulation of Kyra, a central character consumed by a two-thousand-year-old holy text monster. Be prepared to be drawn in by a cinematic display that weaves together instinctive fear with mystical narratives, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a recurring pillar in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is subverted when the dark entities no longer emerge from external sources, but rather from deep inside. This illustrates the most hidden version of each of them. The result is a intense mind game where the drama becomes a constant clash between moral forces.


In a barren outland, five figures find themselves isolated under the sinister grip and infestation of a enigmatic figure. As the cast becomes submissive to oppose her power, marooned and pursued by presences indescribable, they are compelled to stand before their soulful dreads while the time mercilessly pushes forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion grows and associations disintegrate, pushing each figure to scrutinize their core and the nature of personal agency itself. The danger grow with every instant, delivering a fear-soaked story that marries paranormal dread with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to extract basic terror, an curse from ancient eras, manipulating our fears, and questioning a entity that dismantles free will when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant channeling something far beyond human desperation. She is insensitive until the takeover begins, and that conversion is shocking because it is so personal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for streaming beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing households in all regions can enjoy this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original promo, which has seen over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, taking the terror to a global viewership.


Join this visceral trip into the unknown. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to survive these haunting secrets about the soul.


For director insights, extra content, and updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit the movie portal.





Current horror’s Turning Point: the year 2025 U.S. calendar braids together old-world possession, signature indie scares, set against Franchise Rumbles

Running from survival horror steeped in legendary theology and onward to series comebacks paired with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as horror’s most layered combined with calculated campaign year in ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. the big studios lay down anchors through proven series, in tandem streamers front-load the fall with first-wave breakthroughs together with archetypal fear. On the festival side, the art-house flank is buoyed by the kinetic energy from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween holding the peak, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are calculated, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Elevated fear reclaims ground

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

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with a big gambit: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Eli Craig directs and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, builds out the animatronic fear crew, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn featuring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into 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.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No bloated canon. No brand fatigue. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Key Trends

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The 2026 terror release year: brand plays, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A busy Calendar Built For frights

Dek: The current horror year crams from day one with a January cluster, thereafter spreads through the summer months, and straight through the December corridor, combining franchise firepower, new concepts, and shrewd offsets. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on mid-range economics, box-office-first windows, and social-fueled campaigns that frame these releases into culture-wide discussion.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror marketplace has grown into the dependable release in programming grids, a segment that can grow when it catches and still protect the liability when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reminded leaders that low-to-mid budget fright engines can dominate pop culture, the following year held pace with buzzy auteur projects and word-of-mouth wins. The trend flowed into 2025, where re-entries and festival-grade titles showed there is capacity for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to director-led originals that translate worldwide. The end result for 2026 is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across studios, with purposeful groupings, a balance of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a re-energized emphasis on exhibition windows that fuel later windows on paid VOD and home platforms.

Insiders argue the space now performs as a utility player on the calendar. The genre can launch on many corridors, provide a clear pitch for spots and platform-native cuts, and lead with crowds that appear on opening previews and stay strong through the second weekend if the film hits. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 plan indicates conviction in that equation. The year begins with a heavy January corridor, then primes spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while carving room for a fall cadence that pushes into holiday-adjacent weekends and into November. The map also shows the stronger partnership of arthouse labels and SVOD players that can launch in limited release, fuel WOM, and expand at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across ongoing universes and storied titles. The players are not just rolling another continuation. They are setting up story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that suggests a tonal shift or a casting move that connects a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the headline-grabbing originals are returning to hands-on technique, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That mix affords the 2026 slate a lively combination of assurance and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount defines the early cadence with two big-ticket 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 lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, marketing it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character-centered film. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a roots-evoking treatment without repeating the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. A campaign is expected rooted in recognizable motifs, character-first teases, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will drive broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three separate lanes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, sorrow-tinged, and premise-first: a grieving man sets up an machine companion that becomes a lethal partner. The date nudges it to the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s team likely to bring back strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that melds affection and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a official title to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial promo. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele projects are set up as signature events, with a opaque teaser and a later trailer push that define feel without revealing the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has demonstrated that a in-your-face, in-camera leaning treatment can feel premium on a moderate cost. Expect a splatter summer horror blast that pushes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio rolls out two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, continuing a bankable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is billing as a ground-zero restart 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 focus to serve both players and first-timers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build assets around canon, and monster aesthetics, elements that can fuel IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors 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 built on historical precision and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The imprint has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Windowing plans in 2026 run on familiar rails. The Universal horror run move to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a stair-step that boosts both first-week urgency and trial spikes in the back half. Prime Video balances third-party pickups with international acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in archive usage, using seasonal hubs, Halloween hubs, and collection rows to sustain interest on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix retains agility about in-house releases and festival buys, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and positioning as event drops go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a laddered of precision theatrical plays and accelerated platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to board select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 corridor with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern mix and image. 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 the title, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception justifies. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their audience.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, 2026 leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The pragmatic answer is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is leading with character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the bundle is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the plan. In 2023, a exclusive window model that preserved streaming windows did not deter a parallel release from working when the brand was robust. In 2024, art-forward horror over-performed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through cast and motif and to leave creative active without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The production chatter behind these films indicate a continued bias toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that foregrounds unease and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in long-lead press and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta-horror reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in big rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is stacked. 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 big-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the mix of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Winter into spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a peekaboo tease plan and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

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

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss battle to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic reverses and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to terror, founded on Cronin’s material craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting piece that leverages the chill of a child’s mercurial POV. Rating: TBD. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed and headline-actor led 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 genre lampoon that needles hot-button genre motifs and true crime fervors. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 erupts, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family lashed to long-buried horrors. Rating: pending. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and primal menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-slotted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured 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 releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work social-ready stingers from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can capture a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will cluster across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the ideal band. 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, cut sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.