Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled horror feature, streaming Oct 2025 on global platforms

This blood-curdling spectral terror film from dramatist / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an mythic fear when unknowns become vehicles in a supernatural contest. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing journey of struggle and age-old darkness that will transform the horror genre this Halloween season. Created by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and cinematic film follows five individuals who come to ensnared in a cut-off shelter under the unfriendly sway of Kyra, a young woman overtaken by a two-thousand-year-old Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be hooked by a narrative outing that integrates instinctive fear with timeless legends, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a enduring pillar in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is inverted when the dark entities no longer arise from beyond, but rather deep within. This marks the darkest side of the group. The result is a harrowing psychological battle where the suspense becomes a ongoing struggle between heaven and hell.


In a remote wild, five campers find themselves trapped under the ominous rule and inhabitation of a enigmatic spirit. As the team becomes defenseless to evade her influence, disconnected and stalked by spirits unimaginable, they are cornered to battle their raw vulnerabilities while the countdown harrowingly winds toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension mounts and relationships splinter, forcing each protagonist to evaluate their personhood and the integrity of decision-making itself. The cost amplify with every fleeting time, delivering a fear-soaked story that intertwines unearthly horror with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to uncover elemental fright, an evil from prehistory, influencing inner turmoil, and testing a evil that questions who we are when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra demanded embodying something rooted in terror. She is insensitive until the entity awakens, and that transformation is deeply unsettling because it is so deep.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving subscribers around the globe can engage with this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over a viral response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, delivering the story to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this unforgettable path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For sneak peeks, on-set glimpses, and press updates from the creators, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the film’s website.





Horror’s watershed moment: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar fuses old-world possession, underground frights, paired with tentpole growls

Kicking off with grit-forward survival fare drawn from near-Eastern lore through to IP renewals in concert with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex plus intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. top-tier distributors lock in tentpoles with established lines, in parallel platform operators front-load the fall with discovery plays as well as mythic dread. Across the art-house lane, indie storytellers is surfing the kinetic energy from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween holding the peak, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, and 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

The top end is active. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s schedule sets the tone with a big gambit: a refreshed Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Eli Craig directs and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner Bros. banner delivers the closing chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma in the foreground, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The next entry deepens the tale, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

While the big screen favors titles you know, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a smart play. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be 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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Streamers grow fangs
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

What’s Next: Autumn density and winter pivot

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The forthcoming 2026 Horror cycle: installments, original films, paired with A Crowded Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek The arriving scare slate clusters from day one with a January logjam, and then carries through the mid-year, and far into the December corridor, fusing name recognition, untold stories, and smart counterweight. Studios and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that transform the slate’s entries into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror sector has established itself as the consistent option in annual schedules, a space that can spike when it catches and still insulate the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 reminded executives that disciplined-budget chillers can lead the zeitgeist, the following year kept energy high with signature-voice projects and quiet over-performers. The trend moved into the 2025 frame, where returns and awards-minded projects signaled there is capacity for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The net effect for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across studios, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of brand names and original hooks, and a refocused eye on release windows that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Insiders argue the genre now functions as a utility player on the schedule. The genre can debut on virtually any date, offer a clean hook for ad units and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with crowds that respond on Thursday previews and stick through the week two if the movie pays off. After a production delay era, the 2026 setup exhibits faith in that playbook. The calendar rolls out with a front-loaded January block, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a October build that reaches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The arrangement also reflects the greater integration of indie distributors and streamers that can platform and widen, create conversation, and move wide at the timely point.

Another broad trend is series management across shared universes and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just producing another sequel. They are setting up ongoing narrative with a occasion, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a casting move that anchors a upcoming film to a heyday. At the alongside this, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are doubling down on real-world builds, physical gags and location-forward worlds. That alloy delivers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of assurance and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount opens strong with two headline plays that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the lead, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a DNA-forward character-centered film. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a roots-evoking framework without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Look for a marketing run driven by classic imagery, intro reveals, and a tease cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counter-slot, this one will go after wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever dominates genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, soulful, and premise-first: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that grows into a killer companion. The date nudges it to the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to iterate on creepy live activations and short-cut promos that hybridizes companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a branding reveal to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are sold as auteur events, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects method can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror charge that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a dependable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is positioning 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 explicit mandate to serve both fans and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around setting detail, and creature design, elements that can increase premium booking interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror built on immersive craft and language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases feed copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that amplifies both week-one demand and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with global pickups and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library curation, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about in-house releases and festival pickups, locking in horror entries toward the drop and making event-like launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to secure select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a cinema-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the year-end corridor to broaden. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-first horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By volume, 2026 favors the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate household recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to market each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-flavored turn from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept clean windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, creates space for marketing to link the films through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind this slate point to a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that leans on mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster realization and design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is full. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the menu of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February this contact form 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy re-centers 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 connects 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late-season stretch leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited advance reveals that center concept over reveals.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s AI companion unfolds into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

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 face a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: tone-first 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 severe boss claw to survive on a remote island as the pecking order turns and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, shaped by Cronin’s tactile craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting story that pipes the unease through a young child’s wavering point of view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-crafted and A-list fronted spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A genre lampoon that satirizes in-vogue horror tropes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set 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 spreads, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a young family caught in long-buried horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three execution-level forces drive this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 chase 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 work those windows. 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient screen counts, 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 tactility, soundcraft, and image-making 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 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the screams sell the seats.