Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons primeval malevolence, a spine tingling feature, launching October 2025 across top streaming platforms

An eerie unearthly shockfest from creator / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an forgotten horror when passersby become conduits in a diabolical ordeal. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful tale of struggle and ancient evil that will transform genre cinema this fall. Realized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and emotionally thick screenplay follows five strangers who awaken trapped in a unreachable shelter under the aggressive influence of Kyra, a haunted figure controlled by a legendary Old Testament spirit. Prepare to be ensnared by a immersive spectacle that melds bone-deep fear with ancestral stories, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a enduring element in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is redefined when the malevolences no longer originate externally, but rather internally. This illustrates the malevolent layer of the group. The result is a edge-of-seat emotional conflict where the story becomes a ongoing confrontation between virtue and vice.


In a abandoned forest, five characters find themselves contained under the dark grip and spiritual invasion of a uncanny female presence. As the group becomes helpless to deny her manipulation, left alone and stalked by presences inconceivable, they are driven to battle their soulful dreads while the timeline harrowingly runs out toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension deepens and connections disintegrate, requiring each participant to examine their true nature and the concept of self-determination itself. The stakes accelerate with every instant, delivering a horror experience that connects mystical fear with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dive into deep fear, an force that existed before mankind, emerging via emotional fractures, and wrestling with a will that challenges autonomy when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra involved tapping into something darker than pain. She is in denial until the entity awakens, and that pivot is haunting because it is so internal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing customers globally can be part of this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has garnered over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, spreading the horror to horror fans worldwide.


Witness this heart-stopping journey into fear. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to face these unholy truths about our species.


For film updates, set experiences, and announcements from inside the story, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit the official movie site.





Contemporary horror’s inflection point: 2025 in focus domestic schedule interlaces old-world possession, underground frights, alongside Franchise Rumbles

Across fight-to-live nightmare stories infused with biblical myth and stretching into series comebacks plus acutely observed indies, 2025 appears poised to be the most variegated and deliberate year of the last decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors lock in tentpoles with established lines, in tandem subscription platforms saturate the fall with new perspectives paired with legend-coded dread. In the indie lane, festival-forward creators is catching the echoes of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween stays the prime week, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The fall stretch is the proving field, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, and 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

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

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s slate fires the first shot with a big gambit: a reimagined Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a crisp modern milieu. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Eli Craig directs and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma centered writing, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The ante is higher this round, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It drops in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Plays: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a close quarters body horror study featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable starring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled 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 chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a smart play. No overweight mythology. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Franchise Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forecast: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The next genre lineup: installments, fresh concepts, paired with A jammed Calendar calibrated for Scares

Dek The arriving terror year stacks early with a January crush, from there spreads through the mid-year, and carrying into the December corridor, combining series momentum, original angles, and savvy counter-scheduling. Studios with streamers are relying on mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that turn these films into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror has solidified as the consistent counterweight in release plans, a lane that can spike when it performs and still protect the losses when it stumbles. After the 2023 year signaled to strategy teams that mid-range scare machines can galvanize audience talk, the following year held pace with signature-voice projects and quiet over-performers. The momentum translated to 2025, where returns and festival-grade titles showed there is a lane for a spectrum, from series extensions to original features that translate worldwide. The sum for the 2026 slate is a roster that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with planned clusters, a blend of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a refocused commitment on release windows that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and platforms.

Insiders argue the space now functions as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can premiere on a wide range of weekends, supply a tight logline for creative and vertical videos, and exceed norms with viewers that line up on preview nights and stick through the next pass if the feature fires. Coming out of a production delay era, the 2026 pattern indicates trust in that dynamic. The slate opens with a thick January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for balance, while carving room for a October build that connects to the Halloween corridor and past Halloween. The layout also underscores the continuing integration of specialized labels and platforms that can platform and widen, ignite recommendations, and broaden at the proper time.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. The companies are not just making another chapter. They are working to present story carry-over with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a reframed mood or a casting move that connects a upcoming film to a initial period. At the meanwhile, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing practical craft, physical gags and distinct locales. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a strong blend of recognition and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two high-profile entries that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the heart, presenting it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character study. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance indicates a heritage-honoring mode without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push built on franchise iconography, first-look character reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off 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 in creative roles for the first time navigate to this website since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format supporting quick adjustments to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is efficient, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man adopts an AI companion that shifts into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s marketing likely to mirror eerie street stunts and quick hits that mixes affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a public title to become an teaser payoff closer to the teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His projects are branded as marquee events, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The prime October weekend affords Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a raw, makeup-driven method can feel prestige on a disciplined budget. Expect a splatter summer horror blast that spotlights international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, sustaining a steady supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is positioning as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both core fans and novices. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around setting detail, and creature work, elements that can accelerate premium booking interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror centered on immersive craft and period speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that boosts both first-week urgency and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in deep cuts, using editorial spots, horror hubs, and editorial rows to keep attention on overall cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about first-party entries and festival pickups, securing horror entries near their drops and turning into events releases with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered 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 activating genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, retooled for modern mix and grade. 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 announced a cinema-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to widen. That positioning has worked well for director-led genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception warrants. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Series vs standalone

By number, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness household recognition. The concern, as ever, is staleness. The practical approach is to pitch each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is leading with character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a hot helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects provide the air. 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, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the packaging is grounded enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the method. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept streaming intact did not hamper a same-day experiment from thriving when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror popped in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot consecutively, lets marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued lean toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that elevates grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta refresh that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which align with booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

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 gloomy counterbalance amid bigger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth carries.

Late Q1 and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can win the holiday when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion turns into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: gothic-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 demanding boss push to survive on a rugged island as the pecking order swivels and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fear, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. 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 domestic haunting setup that routes the horror through a preteen’s shifting point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-scale and name-above-title haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that satirizes contemporary horror memes and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family tethered to past horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-core horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and primal menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that slowed or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate meme-ready beats from test screenings, metered scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can control a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

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

The sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where 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 leverage those opportunities. 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

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

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundscape, and imagery 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand power where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.