Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a fear soaked thriller, bowing October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A frightening occult suspense film from writer / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an mythic fear when passersby become tokens in a devilish ordeal. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing tale of overcoming and ancient evil that will revolutionize scare flicks this October. Crafted by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and moody cinema piece follows five strangers who regain consciousness isolated in a wilderness-bound lodge under the hostile grip of Kyra, a tormented girl consumed by a timeless scriptural evil. Ready yourself to be gripped by a screen-based experience that fuses deep-seated panic with ancestral stories, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a iconic theme in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is twisted when the entities no longer emerge from beyond, but rather through their own souls. This echoes the malevolent version of the players. The result is a gripping internal warfare where the emotions becomes a unyielding contest between heaven and hell.


In a haunting terrain, five youths find themselves contained under the ominous presence and control of a secretive entity. As the group becomes paralyzed to reject her grasp, detached and attacked by powers unnamable, they are driven to encounter their soulful dreads while the final hour brutally draws closer toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion amplifies and alliances disintegrate, urging each protagonist to question their self and the foundation of liberty itself. The cost mount with every short lapse, delivering a frightening tale that connects spiritual fright with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to extract deep fear, an evil beyond time, influencing our weaknesses, and confronting a power that questions who we are when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant channeling something unfamiliar to reason. She is innocent until the possession kicks in, and that turn is deeply unsettling because it is so close.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure subscribers no matter where they are can enjoy this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, exporting the fear to viewers around the world.


Experience this visceral exploration of dread. Confront *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to acknowledge these fearful discoveries about the psyche.


For exclusive trailers, production insights, and updates from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across fan hubs and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate blends Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, together with IP aftershocks

Kicking off with grit-forward survival fare saturated with ancient scripture through to franchise returns as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 is coalescing into the most textured as well as precision-timed year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios bookend the months with franchise anchors, simultaneously premium streamers saturate the fall with fresh voices plus primordial unease. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is catching the uplift of 2024’s record festival wave. Since Halloween is the prized date, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are targeted, as a result 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s distribution arm opens the year with a risk-forward move: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. targeting mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, the WB camp delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. While the template is known, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma foregrounded, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, bridging teens and legacy players. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Conceived 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. 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. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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 canny scheduling. No swollen lore. No continuity burden. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

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

M3GAN 2.0 drops 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.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Dials to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Season Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 chiller season: entries, new stories, alongside A busy Calendar geared toward screams

Dek: The incoming scare calendar crams at the outset with a January wave, and then stretches through summer corridors, and far into the holiday frame, braiding franchise firepower, inventive spins, and tactical release strategy. The major players are betting on smart costs, theatrical-first rollouts, and short-form initiatives that turn horror entries into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has turned into the most reliable tool in release strategies, a pillar that can scale when it performs and still cushion the liability when it does not. After 2023 proved to studio brass that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can dominate pop culture, 2024 extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam moved into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and critical darlings confirmed there is appetite for many shades, from franchise continuations to fresh IP that export nicely. The sum for 2026 is a roster that is strikingly coherent across studios, with intentional bunching, a blend of marquee IP and novel angles, and a re-energized priority on exhibition windows that power the aftermarket on premium video on demand and home streaming.

Distribution heads claim the genre now acts as a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. The genre can open on open real estate, yield a tight logline for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with audiences that appear on preview nights and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the title fires. After a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 mapping reflects trust in that dynamic. The year commences with a thick January corridor, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a late-year stretch that pushes into spooky season and afterwards. The grid also reflects the greater integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and widen at the proper time.

A second macro trend is brand management across ongoing universes and established properties. Major shops are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a tonal shift or a cast configuration that threads a next film to a vintage era. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are returning to on-set craft, real effects and grounded locations. That combination offers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of assurance and newness, which is what works overseas.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two front-of-slate pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the core, steering it as both a baton pass and a heritage-centered character study. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative stance indicates a throwback-friendly strategy without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Anticipate a campaign stacked with iconic art, character previews, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will drive general-audience talk through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick pivots to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, grief-rooted, and easily pitched: a grieving man installs an machine companion that mutates into a perilous partner. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to revisit creepy live activations and bite-size content that interweaves longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a title drop to become an attention spike closer to the initial tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s releases are branded as filmmaker events, with a hinting teaser and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has long shown that a visceral, makeup-driven aesthetic can feel deluxe on a efficient spend. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that spotlights global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio sets two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a bankable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is presenting as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can lift premium format interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on obsessive craft and period speech, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is supportive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a stair-step that expands both initial urgency and sub growth in the after-window. Prime Video blends licensed titles with worldwide buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and collection rows to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries near launch and framing as events debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a situational basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to acquire select projects with acclaimed directors or star-driven packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly engagement when the genre conversation swells.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

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 setup is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, refined for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a cinema-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then working the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has delivered for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception prompts. Watch for 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 as partners, using limited runs to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, 2026 tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness marquee value. The risk, as ever, is diminishing returns. The near-term solution is to package each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is centering core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a European tilt from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is recognizable enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

Recent-year comps outline the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not obstruct a dual release from working when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror popped in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they alter lens and elevate scope. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot consecutively, allows marketing to bridge entries through cast and motif and to keep assets movies in-market without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind the year’s horror suggest a continued preference for material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that spotlights atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta pivot that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which align with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel irresistible. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that work in PLF.

Annual flow

January is full. 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 somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the menu of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

February through May build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that Check This Out favor idea over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces 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 mourning man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 fight to survive on a uninhabited island as the hierarchy upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

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 renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 domestic haunting story that interrogates the chill of a child’s unreliable point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-built and headline-actor led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satirical comeback that teases hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new family bound to returning horrors. Rating: pending. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-core horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. 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: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in Get More Info progress. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 time-true diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 drops. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on shareable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will trade weekends across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. 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 R to preserve tone and intensity.

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where modest-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 stealth overachiever 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound, and picture 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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, edit tight trailers, keep secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.