Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

This chilling paranormal suspense film from author / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an timeless dread when passersby become victims in a diabolical ceremony. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing account of overcoming and archaic horror that will revamp the horror genre this harvest season. Realized by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and eerie story follows five young adults who wake up stuck in a off-grid cottage under the malignant will of Kyra, a possessed female claimed by a antiquated biblical force. Be prepared to be drawn in by a visual journey that unites deep-seated panic with legendary tales, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a legendary motif in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is subverted when the forces no longer emerge from beyond, but rather deep within. This mirrors the malevolent version of the protagonists. The result is a gripping spiritual tug-of-war where the emotions becomes a constant contest between divinity and wickedness.


In a unforgiving natural abyss, five friends find themselves stuck under the possessive aura and haunting of a secretive female figure. As the youths becomes powerless to resist her rule, cut off and chased by beings beyond comprehension, they are made to confront their soulful dreads while the deathwatch coldly runs out toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia amplifies and connections crack, pushing each cast member to reconsider their values and the philosophy of free will itself. The pressure climb with every beat, delivering a paranormal ride that blends otherworldly panic with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to awaken ancestral fear, an power rooted in antiquity, manipulating our weaknesses, and confronting a power that challenges autonomy when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant evoking something darker than pain. She is insensitive until the curse activates, and that pivot is eerie because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audience access beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing subscribers globally can experience this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its initial teaser, which has pulled in over strong viewer count.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, taking the terror to thrill-seekers globally.


Tune in for this gripping exploration of dread. Enter *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to explore these haunting secrets about our species.


For previews, making-of footage, and alerts via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across platforms and visit our spooky domain.





Modern horror’s major pivot: the year 2025 U.S. release slate Mixes myth-forward possession, Indie Shockers, and IP aftershocks

From grit-forward survival fare steeped in primordial scripture and including canon extensions set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned together with intentionally scheduled year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. the big studios stabilize the year by way of signature titles, even as platform operators stack the fall with new perspectives as well as ancestral chills. On another front, horror’s indie wing is riding the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, notably this year, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are disciplined, accordingly 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the base, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner opens the year with a marquee bet: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the memorable motifs return: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, bridging teens and legacy players. It books December, cornering year end horror.

Digital Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. 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. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future 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 piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy IP: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, 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.

Trend Lines

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror resurges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forecast: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming fright year to come: entries, fresh concepts, in tandem with A packed Calendar optimized for Scares

Dek: The arriving horror year clusters early with a January traffic jam, from there stretches through the warm months, and pushing into the holiday frame, mixing IP strength, original angles, and tactical alternatives. Distributors with platforms are prioritizing tight budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and viral-minded pushes that shape these films into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror sector has grown into the sturdy play in release strategies, a corner that can break out when it hits and still safeguard the risk when it stumbles. After 2023 reassured strategy teams that cost-conscious scare machines can shape the zeitgeist, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The carry pushed into 2025, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is capacity for diverse approaches, from returning installments to director-led originals that translate worldwide. The sum for 2026 is a run that looks unusually coordinated across the major shops, with mapped-out bands, a mix of household franchises and new concepts, and a renewed strategy on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now functions as a fill-in ace on the programming map. The genre can debut on nearly any frame, create a tight logline for spots and UGC-friendly snippets, and punch above weight with audiences that line up on Thursday nights and stick through the second weekend if the release pays off. Emerging from a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence demonstrates conviction in that approach. The calendar launches with a crowded January run, then taps spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a fall cadence that carries into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The gridline also spotlights the expanded integration of indie distributors and home platforms that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

An added macro current is series management across linked properties and long-running brands. Studios are not just rolling another installment. They are setting up threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that announces a recalibrated tone or a talent selection that connects a incoming chapter to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing physical effects work, real effects and distinct locales. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a smart balance of comfort and novelty, which is what works overseas.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent projects 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’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, presenting it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character study. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance indicates a roots-evoking bent without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. Count on a promo wave fueled by iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will drive broad awareness check my blog through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever leads the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear projects. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tight, grief-rooted, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an synthetic partner that becomes a murderous partner. The date sets it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that hybridizes devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a public title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s pictures are framed as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a later trailer push that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor allows Universal to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a blood-soaked, physical-effects centered mix can feel big on a middle budget. Look for a grime-caked summer horror surge that embraces offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio sets two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, keeping a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is marketing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both fans and casuals. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign pieces around lore, and creature builds, elements that can drive premium booking interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

Platform lanes and windowing

Windowing plans in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a cadence that amplifies both FOMO and sign-up momentum in the back half. Prime Video combines licensed titles with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using timely promos, horror hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival pickups, confirming horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops rollouts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown appetite to board select projects with acclaimed directors or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clean: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, retooled for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the October weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, escorting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas window to broaden. That positioning has worked well for auteur horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception allows. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited runs to seed evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The question, as ever, is diminishing returns. The standing approach is to position each entry as a new angle. Paramount is bringing forward character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-tinted vision from a hot helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and auteur plays bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold 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 clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the package is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Past-three-year patterns help explain the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept clean windows did not deter a same-day experiment from hitting when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror surged in premium large format. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reframe POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, creates space for marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to leave creative active without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The creative meetings behind these films hint at a continued lean toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that elevates grain and menace rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-correct language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and department features before rolling out a tease 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 built for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and sparks shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta inflection that centers its original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature design and production design, which match well with expo activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel irresistible. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is loaded. 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 quiet contrast amid heavier IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the range of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sticks.

Early-year through spring load in summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now nurtures 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a early fall window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s digital partner evolves into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for this website an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 prickly boss scramble to survive on a lonely island as the pecking order inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: 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 closed-door haunting piece that pipes the unease through a kid’s shifting inner lens. Rating: forthcoming. Production: wrapped. 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 involved creatively again. Logline: {A genre lampoon that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. 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 bursts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new family anchored to residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on classic survival-horror tone over action spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. 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 bone-deep menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 and why now

Three execution-level forces inform this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-sequenced in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and leaner 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Calendar math also matters. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. 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 comfort zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 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 press those advantages. 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. 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, soundcraft, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is recognizable IP where it plays, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.