Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streamers

This haunting supernatural shockfest from dramatist / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an prehistoric horror when strangers become conduits in a satanic ordeal. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching tale of survival and prehistoric entity that will revolutionize terror storytelling this Halloween season. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and atmospheric suspense flick follows five teens who regain consciousness trapped in a secluded shelter under the hostile dominion of Kyra, a central character consumed by a timeless sacrosanct terror. Steel yourself to be shaken by a big screen journey that melds bone-deep fear with ancestral stories, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a iconic motif in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is subverted when the spirits no longer come beyond the self, but rather internally. This echoes the most primal dimension of these individuals. The result is a psychologically brutal identity crisis where the plotline becomes a ongoing battle between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote wilderness, five adults find themselves sealed under the unholy control and control of a enigmatic female figure. As the group becomes submissive to resist her influence, abandoned and targeted by presences impossible to understand, they are confronted to face their darkest emotions while the final hour unforgivingly winds toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread deepens and teams crack, compelling each participant to evaluate their essence and the concept of free will itself. The stakes intensify with every tick, delivering a horror experience that weaves together occult fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dive into deep fear, an curse that existed before mankind, filtering through mental cracks, and examining a curse that challenges autonomy when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant channeling something more primal than sorrow. She is in denial until the control shifts, and that turn is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure streamers internationally can witness this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its intro video, which has racked up over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, making the film to horror fans worldwide.


Don’t miss this soul-jarring fall into madness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to dive into these ghostly lessons about mankind.


For director insights, making-of footage, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit the movie’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s Turning Point: 2025 American release plan blends myth-forward possession, indie terrors, in parallel with series shake-ups

Kicking off with survival horror suffused with primordial scripture and onward to brand-name continuations together with acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most complex paired with precision-timed year in ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. leading studios are anchoring the year with established lines, concurrently OTT services front-load the fall with new perspectives plus legend-coded dread. On the festival side, indie storytellers is propelled by the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The fall stretch is the proving field, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are intentional, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline leads off the quarter with a statement play: a reimagined Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. dated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial heat flags it as potent.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline delivers the closing chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, speaking to teens and older millennials. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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. That is a savvy move. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror returns
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching fright slate: Sequels, Originals, in tandem with A hectic Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek The fresh horror calendar crowds immediately with a January pile-up, following that carries through peak season, and well into the holidays, blending name recognition, original angles, and savvy counterprogramming. Studios and platforms are leaning into efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that convert these releases into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has established itself as the predictable lever in studio slates, a corner that can expand when it clicks and still buffer the downside when it does not. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that low-to-mid budget pictures can drive the national conversation, the following year maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The head of steam fed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and awards-minded projects confirmed there is appetite for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to director-led originals that resonate abroad. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a grid that feels more orchestrated than usual across distributors, with intentional bunching, a combination of recognizable IP and new packages, and a sharpened attention on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and subscription services.

Distribution heads claim the space now operates like a wildcard on the distribution slate. Horror can open on a wide range of weekends, generate a quick sell for previews and platform-native cuts, and over-index with fans that show up on first-look nights and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the release works. Coming out of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 plan telegraphs certainty in that model. The year opens with a front-loaded January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for alternate plays, while reserving space for a fall corridor that connects to Halloween and past the holiday. The grid also underscores the increasing integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can build gradually, grow buzz, and roll out at the timely point.

An added macro current is brand management across ongoing universes and established properties. Major shops are not just mounting another chapter. They are seeking to position ongoing narrative with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a refreshed voice or a star attachment that threads a latest entry to a classic era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are favoring practical craft, real effects and concrete locations. That mix delivers 2026 a robust balance of assurance and invention, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount defines the early cadence with two spotlight entries that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a return-to-roots relationship-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative stance telegraphs a classic-referencing campaign without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign driven by heritage visuals, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will stress. As a summer relief option, this one will pursue mass reach through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format fitting quick pivots to whatever owns the conversation that spring.

Universal has three distinct projects. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is elegant, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an synthetic partner that turns into a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and snackable content that blurs longing and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title drop to become an event moment closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s pictures are presented as event films, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame allows Universal to command 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 directs, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, hands-on effects method can feel premium on a middle budget. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror charge that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is selling as a clean-slate approach 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 charge to serve both devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign creative around universe detail, and creature effects, elements that can amplify PLF interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus Features has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is positive.

Streaming windows and tactics

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a pacing that enhances both FOMO and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using editorial spots, genre hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival buys, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and staging as events releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of targeted cinema placements and quick platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with acclaimed directors or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 slate with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception drives. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using mini theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchises versus originals

By tilt, 2026 tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage fan equity. The risk, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and auteur plays deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the deal build is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent comps help explain the approach. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that respected streaming windows did not block a day-date try from paying off when the brand was strong. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they angle differently and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, enables marketing to interlace chapters through character web and themes and to keep assets alive without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The production chatter behind this slate foreshadow a continued turn toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates texture and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta refresh that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature execution and sets, which favor convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is heavy. 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 quiet contrast amid larger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the tone spread affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Q1 into Q2 load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited advance reveals that center concept over reveals.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Project briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion unfolds into something murderously loving. 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss try to survive on a cut-off island as the control dynamic turns and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s physical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a movies filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting tale that toys with the fear of a child’s shaky perceptions. Rating: TBA. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-financed and star-led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that targets current genre trends and true crime fervors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography set 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 ignites, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. 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 extends again, with a another family bound to past horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on classic survival-horror tone over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: not yet rated. Production: active. 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 era-faithful speech and primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three execution-level forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that slowed or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space 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 pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, 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 momentum and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, acoustics, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is franchise muscle where it helps, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.