Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient dread, a chilling horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

This blood-curdling occult horror tale from scriptwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric fear when newcomers become tools in a supernatural struggle. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of living through and archaic horror that will alter terror storytelling this scare season. Guided by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and tone-heavy motion picture follows five characters who come to caught in a cut-off cabin under the ominous manipulation of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a legendary scriptural evil. Brace yourself to be captivated by a filmic adventure that weaves together intense horror with arcane tradition, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a mainstay fixture in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is flipped when the entities no longer form from a different plane, but rather from their psyche. This echoes the most primal element of each of them. The result is a emotionally raw identity crisis where the tension becomes a relentless confrontation between moral forces.


In a abandoned landscape, five figures find themselves isolated under the sinister control and domination of a mysterious apparition. As the companions becomes paralyzed to fight her command, severed and tormented by presences ungraspable, they are made to deal with their deepest fears while the final hour ruthlessly winds toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease intensifies and friendships disintegrate, demanding each individual to doubt their essence and the philosophy of independent thought itself. The intensity grow with every second, delivering a paranormal ride that combines otherworldly suspense with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to channel raw dread, an entity beyond time, influencing mental cracks, and challenging a curse that tests the soul when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra needed manifesting something unfamiliar to reason. She is oblivious until the takeover begins, and that conversion is gut-wrenching because it is so visceral.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that horror lovers worldwide can get immersed in this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, extending the thrill to a worldwide audience.


Experience this mind-warping journey into fear. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to dive into these terrifying truths about mankind.


For featurettes, special features, and announcements from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across platforms and visit the official movie site.





American horror’s Turning Point: 2025 U.S. lineup fuses ancient-possession motifs, underground frights, paired with brand-name tremors

Running from fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with near-Eastern lore and extending to legacy revivals paired with surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered paired with blueprinted year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, in parallel OTT services load up the fall with new voices set against archetypal fear. On the festival side, horror’s indie wing is propelled by the momentum of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are precise, therefore 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium genre swings back

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal fires the first shot with a risk-forward move: a refreshed Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. 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 page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer fades, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re teams, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma as text, along with eerie supernatural rules. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The continuation widens the legend, thickens the animatronic pantheon, speaking to teens and older millennials. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

With cinemas leaning into known IP, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. From writer director 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy IP: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, guided by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror retakes ground
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forward View: Fall saturation and a winter joker

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

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



The approaching terror slate: follow-ups, original films, paired with A busy Calendar Built For frights

Dek The brand-new scare slate crams at the outset with a January traffic jam, subsequently spreads through June and July, and pushing into the December corridor, blending IP strength, creative pitches, and shrewd calendar placement. Studios with streamers are doubling down on smart costs, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that position these pictures into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has proven to be the most reliable release in release strategies, a vertical that can spike when it hits and still safeguard the risk when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that mid-range scare machines can shape the discourse, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The momentum moved into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and arthouse crossovers made clear there is room for different modes, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that translate worldwide. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a programming that appears tightly organized across players, with intentional bunching, a combination of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a tightened priority on theater exclusivity that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and platforms.

Executives say the category now acts as a flex slot on the calendar. The genre can launch on almost any weekend, yield a easy sell for spots and short-form placements, and outstrip with audiences that come out on preview nights and return through the sophomore frame if the release pays off. Exiting a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm signals trust in that playbook. The calendar rolls out with a weighty January window, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while making space for a autumn push that connects to Halloween and into post-Halloween. The program also spotlights the continuing integration of specialized imprints and SVOD players that can build gradually, create conversation, and scale up at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is IP stewardship across shared IP webs and veteran brands. The players are not just turning out another next film. They are seeking to position connection with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a new vibe or a ensemble decision that reconnects a new installment to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into in-camera technique, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That combination yields 2026 a lively combination of known notes and invention, which is why the genre exports well.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent moves that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the core, marketing it as both a baton pass and a DNA-forward character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a classic-referencing treatment without rehashing the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign built on brand visuals, character previews, and a promo sequence slated for late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will lean on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek mass reach through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is straightforward, soulful, and premise-first: a grieving man sets up an AI companion that grows into a fatal companion. The date places it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew eerie street stunts and brief clips that blurs love and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books 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 permits a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the early tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as auteur events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gritty, physical-effects centered treatment can feel big on a tight budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that leans into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. have a peek here and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is billing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and novices. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around setting detail, and practical creature work, elements that can increase format premiums and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places 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 rooted in rigorous craft and language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ordering that fortifies both launch urgency and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix films and festival deals, confirming horror entries near their drops and elevating as drops debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a two-step of precision releases and accelerated platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key 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+ keeps selective horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to buy select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for sustained usage when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 pipeline with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a cinema-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then working the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Be ready 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 concert, using mini theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, 2026 leans toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is underscoring core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a fresh helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-driven titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

The last three-year set announce the template. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not preclude a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was strong. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, permits marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind this year’s genre point to a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates aura and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and department features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that center precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that work in PLF.

How the year maps out

January is crowded. 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 moody palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive 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 premium screens.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a mutable 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 hard-edged boss claw to survive on a desolate island as the control balance reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to nightmare, rooted in Cronin’s tactile craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 home-set haunting tale that toys with the dread of a child’s uncertain perceptions. Rating: TBA. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-grade and A-list fronted paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that riffs on current genre trends and true crime fervors. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 ignites, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a young family lashed to lingering terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-core horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in progress. 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 era-faithful speech and elemental menace. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for check over here a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026, why now

Three practical forces shape this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or migrated in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work bite-size scare clips from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will coexist across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where lower and 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 work those windows. 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 slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 tempo and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, 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 build month to month, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound field, and visual design 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 Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.