Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling thriller, streaming Oct 2025 across global platforms

An blood-curdling otherworldly suspense film from creator / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an ancient curse when guests become conduits in a dark struggle. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking saga of continuance and forgotten curse that will reconstruct the horror genre this scare season. Produced by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and cinematic film follows five strangers who come to confined in a off-grid shelter under the hostile grip of Kyra, a haunted figure claimed by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be enthralled by a immersive event that merges raw fear with biblical origins, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a mainstay trope in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is challenged when the monsters no longer develop beyond the self, but rather within themselves. This suggests the haunting facet of every character. The result is a bone-chilling identity crisis where the plotline becomes a soul-crushing contest between purity and corruption.


In a remote backcountry, five friends find themselves marooned under the malicious force and grasp of a unknown entity. As the team becomes paralyzed to oppose her curse, marooned and tormented by entities unnamable, they are required to deal with their inner demons while the clock ruthlessly runs out toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust deepens and links splinter, pushing each figure to doubt their core and the foundation of freedom of choice itself. The cost amplify with every minute, delivering a fear-soaked story that integrates otherworldly suspense with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dig into primitive panic, an presence rooted in antiquity, operating within our weaknesses, and examining a entity that challenges autonomy when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra needed manifesting something rooted in terror. She is unaware until the demon emerges, and that conversion is shocking because it is so internal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that subscribers across the world can dive into this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its release of trailer #1, which has seen over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, exporting the fear to international horror buffs.


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable exploration of dread. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to experience these chilling revelations about existence.


For film updates, making-of footage, and announcements from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official digital haunt.





Today’s horror pivotal crossroads: 2025 domestic schedule braids together ancient-possession motifs, signature indie scares, alongside IP aftershocks

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror rooted in old testament echoes and including series comebacks set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted plus intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios lay down anchors with franchise anchors, at the same time streamers saturate the fall with discovery plays set against legend-coded dread. In parallel, independent banners is surfing the echoes from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween holding the peak, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are surgical, so 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal lights the fuse with a confident swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, instead in a current-day frame. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

By late summer, Warner Bros. rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, speaking to teens and older millennials. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While cinemas swing on series strength, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror duet including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting 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

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in 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 a calculated bet. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. 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 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

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

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Emerging Currents

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: 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 like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 spook slate: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, alongside A Crowded Calendar optimized for Scares

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle crowds early with a January crush, then rolls through summer corridors, and deep into the winter holidays, combining brand equity, inventive spins, and well-timed calendar placement. Studios and platforms are betting on mid-range economics, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that convert horror entries into cross-demo moments.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This category has established itself as the sturdy move in studio calendars, a segment that can expand when it resonates and still safeguard the downside when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught studio brass that cost-conscious fright engines can dominate cultural conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with festival-darling auteurs and slow-burn breakouts. The energy carried into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and prestige plays showed there is room for a variety of tones, from returning installments to original features that carry overseas. The result for the 2026 slate is a slate that presents tight coordination across studios, with defined corridors, a blend of marquee IP and original hooks, and a reinvigorated stance on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and digital services.

Planners observe the category now works like a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can launch on virtually any date, deliver a clean hook for ad units and TikTok spots, and lead with fans that line up on advance nights and keep coming through the week two if the film fires. After a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 configuration reflects certainty in that engine. The slate kicks off with a busy January run, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a fall run that carries into the fright window and into November. The calendar also shows the tightening integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and grow at the optimal moment.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across unified worlds and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just rolling another chapter. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that conveys a recalibrated tone or a talent selection that bridges a new entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating real-world builds, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That pairing yields 2026 a vital pairing of familiarity and discovery, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the focus, positioning the film as both a baton pass and a rootsy character-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the artistic posture conveys a roots-evoking mode without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign stacked with brand visuals, character previews, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches 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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a summer counter-slot, this one will hunt wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever leads the conversation that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is clean, soulful, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an AI companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that blurs attachment and terror.

On May navigate here 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s releases are sold as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser that holds back and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives the studio room to own 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has shown that a gritty, prosthetic-heavy method can feel top-tier on a middle budget. Expect a splatter summer horror hit that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio rolls out two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, holding a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back 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 foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both core fans and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around lore, and creature work, elements that can drive premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

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 advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by obsessive craft and period speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that enhances both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video will mix library titles with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, locking in horror entries closer to launch and eventizing rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a tiered of precision theatrical plays and prompt platform moves that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to secure select projects with acclaimed directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 runway 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 setup is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using boutique theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By weight, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on brand equity. The question, as ever, is brand wear. The near-term solution is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and check over here social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps make sense of the model. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from paying off when the brand was big. In 2024, director-craft horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reorient and increase ambition. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued shift toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that underscores creep and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft coverage before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and sparks shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, 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 big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid heavier IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the range of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring prepare 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 belonged to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. 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 shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout 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 rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to horror face a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s artificial companion mutates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 comes back 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: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 struggle to survive on a desolate island as the chain of command flips and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, rooted in Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting setup that routes the horror through a youth’s flickering subjective lens. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that needles present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family entangled with past horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in classic survival-horror tone over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. Production: continuing. 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 period-precise speech and raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 and why now

Three hands-on forces frame this lineup. First, production that paused or recalendared in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured 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 drops. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will stack across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where value-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

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

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, 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 materiality, soundcraft, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.