Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across major platforms

One spine-tingling otherworldly fear-driven tale from scriptwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primeval force when strangers become pawns in a cursed conflict. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish episode of continuance and timeless dread that will remodel the fear genre this October. Created by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and shadowy cinema piece follows five unacquainted souls who arise locked in a far-off house under the dark influence of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a antiquated sacred-era entity. Ready yourself to be captivated by a visual display that harmonizes visceral dread with ancestral stories, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a historical narrative in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is subverted when the fiends no longer manifest from elsewhere, but rather within themselves. This symbolizes the shadowy element of the victims. The result is a intense internal warfare where the plotline becomes a relentless conflict between divinity and wickedness.


In a barren natural abyss, five characters find themselves caught under the fiendish sway and possession of a unidentified spirit. As the ensemble becomes unable to fight her power, disconnected and hunted by forces unnamable, they are pushed to confront their inner demons while the clock mercilessly ticks toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion surges and alliances crack, compelling each participant to reconsider their existence and the idea of independent thought itself. The danger grow with every second, delivering a cinematic nightmare that fuses ghostly evil with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to awaken pure dread, an force beyond recorded history, working through fragile psyche, and highlighting a spirit that redefines identity when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra meant channeling something unfamiliar to reason. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that flip is terrifying because it is so internal.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving streamers everywhere can experience this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its release of trailer #1, which has been viewed over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, exporting the fear to a worldwide audience.


Be sure to catch this haunted ride through nightmares. Confront *Young & Cursed* this launch day to see these dark realities about the mind.


For behind-the-scenes access, extra content, and announcements from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit the movie portal.





Modern horror’s sea change: 2025 in focus stateside slate fuses primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, alongside franchise surges

Across survivor-centric dread steeped in legendary theology and stretching into canon extensions and focused festival visions, 2025 appears poised to be the most textured combined with deliberate year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors stabilize the year using marquee IP, while streamers stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and ancestral chills. Meanwhile, the art-house flank is catching the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, however this time, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are methodical, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: High-craft horror returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp starts the year with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Under Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. delivers the closing chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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 overinflated mythology. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

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 hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Brands: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With sharp marketing, it could translate to 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.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Laurels convert to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The next fright year to come: continuations, new stories, in tandem with A jammed Calendar calibrated for screams

Dek: The incoming genre slate packs immediately with a January cluster, and then carries through summer, and straight through the late-year period, marrying franchise firepower, inventive spins, and calculated counterprogramming. The major players are prioritizing cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that frame these films into all-audience topics.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has become the most reliable release in release strategies, a corner that can spike when it lands and still insulate the drawdown when it falls short. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can steer pop culture, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and under-the-radar smashes. The run fed into 2025, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers signaled there is room for different modes, from returning installments to original features that scale internationally. The sum for the 2026 slate is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across companies, with planned clusters, a balance of household franchises and novel angles, and a tightened focus on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital and home streaming.

Marketers add the space now slots in as a flex slot on the slate. Horror can arrive on almost any weekend, yield a clear pitch for creative and vertical videos, and outperform with viewers that line up on first-look nights and keep coming through the next weekend if the entry delivers. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 mapping shows trust in that model. The year gets underway with a front-loaded January block, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a October build that connects to spooky season and into November. The layout also shows the greater integration of indie distributors and platforms that can stage a platform run, stoke social talk, and grow at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and veteran brands. The studios are not just turning out another follow-up. They are looking to package brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a logo package that signals a re-angled tone or a star attachment that bridges a new entry to a early run. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the most anticipated originals are championing material texture, physical gags and place-driven backdrops. That combination offers the 2026 slate a lively combination of assurance and invention, which is how the films export.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a passing of the torch and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach signals a fan-service aware mode without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by legacy iconography, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen 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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will seek large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three specific entries. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is crisp, soulful, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that unfolds into a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the Universal machine likely to mirror creepy live activations and quick hits that interweaves love and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are presented as filmmaker events, with a minimalist tease and a subsequent trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date lets the studio to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a raw, practical-first mix can feel deluxe on a middle budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror jolt that centers overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a reliable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is calling a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both longtime followers and fresh viewers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign creative around universe detail, and creature work, elements that can stoke IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on minute detail and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. The company has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases flow to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that amplifies both FOMO and viewer acquisition in the downstream. Prime Video balances acquired titles with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in back-catalog play, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays nimble about own-slate titles and festival wins, locking in horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and prompt platform moves that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a situational basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 lane with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, modernized for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday corridor to scale. That positioning has helped for director-led genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their audience.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, 2026 is weighted toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The concern, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is floating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the packaging is recognizable enough to drive advance ticketing and advance-audience nights.

Past-three-year patterns outline the plan. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not foreclose a day-date move from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, art-forward horror rose in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, this contact form which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror point to a continued shift toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that elevates creep and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which are ideal for expo activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is jammed. 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 brooding contrast amid marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tone spread opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Early-year through spring stage summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s virtual companion becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: aura-driven 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 battle to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fear, anchored by Cronin’s hands-on craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting story that twists the terror of a child’s mercurial interpretations. Rating: to be announced. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family anchored to past horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 antique diction and elemental fear. Rating: undetermined. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 lands now

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-sequenced in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work social-ready stingers from test screenings, managed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

The slot calculus is real. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, creating valuable space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, smart allocations, 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 visual texture, sonics, 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is franchise muscle where it helps, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the scares sell the seats.