Mythic Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

One chilling unearthly suspense story from literary architect / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an archaic force when strangers become pawns in a demonic maze. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping episode of overcoming and primeval wickedness that will revamp scare flicks this Halloween season. Directed by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and moody fearfest follows five individuals who snap to stranded in a cut-off cottage under the malignant rule of Kyra, a central character controlled by a legendary biblical demon. Be warned to be immersed by a big screen experience that combines visceral dread with folklore, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a iconic tradition in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is radically shifted when the spirits no longer originate externally, but rather deep within. This symbolizes the grimmest layer of every character. The result is a bone-chilling mind game where the suspense becomes a soul-crushing push-pull between light and darkness.


In a barren forest, five adults find themselves trapped under the ominous aura and control of a secretive entity. As the characters becomes submissive to reject her grasp, detached and hunted by evils unimaginable, they are cornered to wrestle with their deepest fears while the moments without pity draws closer toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear rises and teams shatter, driving each member to reconsider their existence and the integrity of liberty itself. The consequences rise with every tick, delivering a paranormal ride that intertwines unearthly horror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to awaken primal fear, an spirit from prehistory, embedding itself in our fears, and questioning a will that erodes the self when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra demanded embodying something deeper than fear. She is blind until the control shifts, and that flip is harrowing because it is so personal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be released for viewing beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing fans around the globe can witness this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its intro video, which has received over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, delivering the story to fans of fear everywhere.


Do not miss this gripping ride through nightmares. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to dive into these nightmarish insights about mankind.


For bonus footage, director cuts, and news straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season domestic schedule interlaces biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, plus legacy-brand quakes

Beginning with life-or-death fear grounded in ancient scripture and onward to canon extensions in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered together with deliberate year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses bookend the months with franchise anchors, while digital services pack the fall with emerging auteurs alongside old-world menace. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is surfing the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, and 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal kicks off the frame with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial heat flags it as potent.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the tone that worked before is intact: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, courting teens and the thirty something base. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

In the mix sits Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: 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, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed 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. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy IP: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The 2026 genre release year: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, and also A packed Calendar designed for goosebumps

Dek: The new terror season stacks immediately with a January glut, from there carries through summer, and pushing into the holiday stretch, weaving marquee clout, inventive spins, and tactical counterplay. The major players are embracing efficient budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and short-form initiatives that convert the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has grown into the predictable swing in studio slates, a category that can spike when it performs and still protect the downside when it doesn’t. After 2023 proved to greenlighters that cost-conscious chillers can drive audience talk, 2024 maintained heat with director-led heat and stealth successes. The energy fed into 2025, where reboots and arthouse crossovers demonstrated there is room for many shades, from continued chapters to standalone ideas that scale internationally. The sum for the 2026 slate is a programming that is strikingly coherent across studios, with planned clusters, a combination of marquee IP and untested plays, and a revived commitment on release windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and platforms.

Buyers contend the space now serves as a wildcard on the distribution slate. The genre can roll out on nearly any frame, supply a simple premise for creative and vertical videos, and lead with demo groups that respond on first-look nights and keep coming through the second weekend if the movie pays off. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping underscores faith in that model. The slate launches with a weighty January block, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterweight, while leaving room for a autumn push that extends to All Hallows period and afterwards. The grid also spotlights the expanded integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and grow at the sweet spot.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across shared universes and storied titles. The companies are not just producing another continuation. They are shaping as lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that announces a refreshed voice or a cast configuration that threads a next entry to a initial period. At the alongside this, the writer-directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are favoring on-set craft, in-camera effects and location-forward worlds. That blend produces the 2026 slate a vital pairing of assurance and novelty, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount plants an early flag with two spotlight bets that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the center, angling it as both a legacy handover and a rootsy character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative posture indicates a memory-charged strategy without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by signature symbols, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also resurrects 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 as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will drive mass reach through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever leads the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tight, soulful, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an AI companion that becomes a harmful mate. The date places it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the studio’s marketing likely to recreate uncanny live moments and quick hits that interweaves attachment and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a title reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the opening teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s pictures are marketed as marquee events, with a opaque teaser and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives the studio room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has demonstrated that a raw, hands-on effects method can feel big on a disciplined budget. Look for a splatter summer horror shock that maximizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is positioning as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive large-format demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by minute detail and archaic language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The distributor has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is robust.

Digital platform strategies

Platform windowing in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal titles move to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a pacing that elevates both debut momentum and sub growth in the post-theatrical. Prime Video pairs outside acquisitions with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library engagement, using editorial spots, horror hubs, and collection rows to prolong the run on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about originals and festival grabs, dating horror entries near their drops and positioning as event drops debuts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a tiered of selective theatrical runs and swift platform pivots that monetizes buzz via trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a curated basis. The platform has indicated interest to take on select projects with name filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 corridor with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clean: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, upgraded for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, curating the rollout through select festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday corridor to expand. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-first horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception supports. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using mini theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By number, the 2026 slate skews toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap household recognition. The question, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to market each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is underscoring character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is steady enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that maintained windows did not block a dual release from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they angle differently and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, builds a path for marketing to cross-link entries through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without extended gaps.

Creative tendencies and craft

The filmmaking conversations behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued shift toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on aura and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined 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 spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft journalism and department features before rolling out a tone piece that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature execution and sets, which match well with fan conventions and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is stacked. Universal’s 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 atmospheric change-up amid larger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring build the summer base. imp source Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s machine mate unfolds into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 emerges 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 stumble upon a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss scramble to survive on a rugged island as the power dynamic flips and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. this website Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to dread, anchored by Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting scenario that teases the terror of a child’s fragile senses. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

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 satire sequel that teases contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 breaks out, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a young family entangled with past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survivalist horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: pending. 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 antique diction and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or rearranged in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed timelines. 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 imp source R to preserve tone and intensity.

The search for sleepers 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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 year flows for audiences

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

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, lean footprints, 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 grain, acoustics, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand equity where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.