Antediluvian Dread stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across major platforms

A haunting unearthly scare-fest from literary architect / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an primeval fear when drifters become victims in a satanic struggle. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing story of perseverance and old world terror that will reconstruct horror this fall. Produced by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and cinematic cinema piece follows five figures who find themselves locked in a secluded house under the oppressive will of Kyra, a female lead consumed by a timeless sacrosanct terror. Prepare to be enthralled by a big screen spectacle that combines soul-chilling terror with ancestral stories, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a historical fixture in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is inverted when the demons no longer emerge outside the characters, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the most hidden part of the group. The result is a gripping mental war where the narrative becomes a intense confrontation between moral forces.


In a wilderness-stricken woodland, five teens find themselves stuck under the ominous control and infestation of a elusive figure. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to combat her grasp, left alone and preyed upon by spirits indescribable, they are made to deal with their soulful dreads while the doomsday meter unforgivingly pushes forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion deepens and connections fracture, coercing each person to examine their existence and the notion of conscious will itself. The pressure climb with every heartbeat, delivering a fear-soaked story that weaves together otherworldly panic with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to explore pure dread, an entity beyond time, emerging via our weaknesses, and highlighting a being that questions who we are when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra called for internalizing something beyond human emotion. She is unaware until the invasion happens, and that flip is harrowing because it is so raw.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing customers internationally can face this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has garnered over 100,000 views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, taking the terror to fans of fear everywhere.


Avoid skipping this unforgettable spiral into evil. Enter *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to uncover these chilling revelations about the psyche.


For sneak peeks, special features, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





U.S. horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate fuses primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, set against franchise surges

Ranging from last-stand terror drawn from mythic scripture as well as canon extensions together with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned plus deliberate year of the last decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. leading studios are anchoring the year via recognizable brands, simultaneously subscription platforms crowd the fall with debut heat alongside old-world menace. On the independent axis, the art-house flank is propelled by the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween holding the peak, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, which means 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate sets the tone with a bold swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Steered by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. targeting mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer fades, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: retro dread, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The new chapter enriches the lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, bridging teens and legacy players. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: Modest spend, serious shock

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a sealed box body horror arc starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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 does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

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 canny scheduling. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

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.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Signals and Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror swings back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theaters are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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 will scrap for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new scare Year Ahead: entries, new stories, plus A jammed Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek The new scare year stacks at the outset with a January logjam, subsequently spreads through midyear, and pushing into the December corridor, marrying name recognition, new voices, and well-timed counterplay. Studios and platforms are leaning into efficient budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and influencer-ready assets that turn these offerings into mainstream chatter.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The genre has grown into the predictable tool in studio slates, a lane that can expand when it breaks through and still cushion the losses when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year showed studio brass that cost-conscious chillers can command the discourse, 2024 maintained heat with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The head of steam pushed into 2025, where returns and premium-leaning entries made clear there is space for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to original features that scale internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across players, with strategic blocks, a mix of familiar brands and untested plays, and a sharpened priority on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and home platforms.

Executives say the space now behaves like a versatile piece on the grid. The genre can launch on almost any weekend, create a simple premise for marketing and social clips, and outstrip with crowds that lean in on preview nights and stick through the second weekend if the picture satisfies. On the heels of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 setup exhibits certainty in that dynamic. The slate begins with a front-loaded January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a late-year stretch that connects to Halloween and beyond. The map also includes the deeper integration of indie arms and platforms that can launch in limited release, ignite recommendations, and roll out at the precise moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand management across shared IP webs and established properties. Studios are not just rolling another follow-up. They are shaping as story carry-over with a headline quality, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a star attachment that ties a new installment to a initial period. At the very same time, the creative teams behind the marquee originals are leaning into material texture, real effects and specific settings. That combination hands the 2026 slate a healthy mix of familiarity and novelty, which is the formula for international play.

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

Paramount establishes early momentum with two big-ticket entries that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, angling it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance conveys a legacy-leaning framework without rehashing the last two entries’ family thread. Count on a promo wave rooted in franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will spotlight. As a summer contrast play, this one will build four-quadrant chatter through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick pivots to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct pushes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, somber, and commercial: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on uncanny live moments and brief clips that fuses romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. The filmmaker’s films are treated as event films, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to lead 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has shown that a in-your-face, hands-on effects method can feel premium on a middle budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror shot that leans into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a bankable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 charge to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build materials around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can amplify PLF interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and dialect, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles land on copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ladder that amplifies both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival deals, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a paired of limited theatrical footprints 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 turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is tight: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical rollout for the title, an positive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception encourages. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, 2026 tips toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate fan equity. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is centering character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is steady enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set contextualize the logic. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not preclude a hybrid test from working when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and raise the stakes. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters shot in tandem, gives leeway to marketing to link the films through character spine and themes and to hold creative in the market without pause points.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued emphasis on practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that highlights creep and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-correct language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a first look that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster aesthetics and world-building, which work nicely for expo activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is loaded. 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 foggy reset amid heftier brand moves. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Pre-summer months prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a late-September window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited information drops that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s virtual companion turns into something dangerously intimate. 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: atmospheric 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 unyielding boss try to survive on a rugged island as the power balance reverses and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to menace, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 in-home haunting narrative that pipes the unease through a minor’s uneven POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-built and A-list fronted supernatural 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 satirical comeback that satirizes contemporary horror memes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 surges, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over action spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and elemental fear. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces drive this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-slotted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest shareable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will jostle across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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 Get More Info slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, aural design, 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 Is Well Positioned

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.