Antediluvian Terror Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling feature, premiering Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

One frightening paranormal scare-fest from narrative craftsman / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an long-buried entity when passersby become subjects in a supernatural ritual. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a intense account of endurance and primeval wickedness that will redefine the horror genre this autumn. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and gothic film follows five characters who find themselves stuck in a unreachable lodge under the ominous grip of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a legendary sacred-era entity. Brace yourself to be shaken by a narrative event that merges soul-chilling terror with timeless legends, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a historical element in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is reversed when the beings no longer develop outside the characters, but rather through their own souls. This suggests the malevolent dimension of all involved. The result is a riveting mind game where the drama becomes a brutal confrontation between right and wrong.


In a abandoned forest, five teens find themselves stuck under the ghastly influence and inhabitation of a unidentified character. As the protagonists becomes submissive to combat her influence, exiled and attacked by presences inconceivable, they are obligated to stand before their emotional phantoms while the hours unforgivingly counts down toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust amplifies and ties shatter, pushing each survivor to challenge their character and the principle of liberty itself. The stakes mount with every beat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that integrates occult fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to draw upon primal fear, an presence that existed before mankind, filtering through soul-level flaws, and confronting a spirit that dismantles free will when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something outside normal anguish. She is blind until the control shifts, and that conversion is deeply unsettling because it is so raw.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring customers across the world can be part of this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original promo, which has collected over 100,000 views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, giving access to the movie to viewers around the world.


Mark your calendar for this cinematic path of possession. Face *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to explore these unholy truths about mankind.


For director insights, production insights, and promotions from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACFilm across your socials and visit the film’s website.





American horror’s sea change: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule weaves ancient-possession motifs, signature indie scares, plus Franchise Rumbles

Across life-or-death fear drawn from primordial scripture and onward to installment follow-ups alongside acutely observed indies, 2025 is emerging as the most textured along with precision-timed year of the last decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. the big studios are anchoring the year with established lines, as premium streamers crowd the fall with debut heat paired with mythic dread. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is fueled by the carry of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, but this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s pipeline fires the first shot with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a clear present-tense world. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Steered by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. unveils the final movement from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: nostalgic menace, trauma in the foreground, with ghostly inner logic. The stakes escalate here, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The next entry deepens the tale, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Tight funds, wide impact

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

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a sealed box body horror arc with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a smart play. No overweight mythology. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their 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 forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Brands: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Dials to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror retakes ground
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Fall stack and winter swing card

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new genre calendar year ahead: entries, universe starters, as well as A hectic Calendar tailored for nightmares

Dek: The incoming terror cycle packs early with a January pile-up, and then flows through summer, and pushing into the December corridor, blending marquee clout, creative pitches, and strategic counterplay. Studios and platforms are committing to cost discipline, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that transform these films into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the consistent counterweight in annual schedules, a space that can lift when it breaks through and still insulate the drag when it falls short. After 2023 proved to top brass that mid-range chillers can dominate social chatter, the following year kept the drumbeat going with director-led heat and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam fed into 2025, where revivals and elevated films demonstrated there is a lane for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to original features that play globally. The net effect for 2026 is a roster that shows rare alignment across players, with planned clusters, a mix of familiar brands and novel angles, and a re-energized priority on cinema windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and platforms.

Planners observe the genre now serves as a swing piece on the release plan. Horror can bow on virtually any date, deliver a clean hook for promo reels and TikTok spots, and lead with ticket buyers that lean in on advance nights and continue through the next weekend if the feature works. Following a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping exhibits belief in that setup. The year commences with a loaded January window, then taps spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a September to October window that flows toward late October and into the next week. The gridline also spotlights the deeper integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and broaden at the strategic time.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just rolling another next film. They are shaping as lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title design that flags a reframed mood or a casting pivot that binds a new installment to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the top original plays are celebrating material texture, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That alloy gives 2026 a vital pairing of home base and surprise, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, angling it as both a baton pass and a origin-leaning character-centered film. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture announces a nostalgia-forward treatment without going over the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by recognizable motifs, first images of characters, and a staggered trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will go after wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever rules the social talk that spring.

Universal has three defined plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is efficient, tragic, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with the Universal machine likely to iterate on viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that interweaves intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title drop to become an headline beat closer to the initial tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are positioned as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-month date lets the studio to fill 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has long shown that a tactile, makeup-driven style can feel elevated on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that pushes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is framing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both loyalists and novices. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around world-building, and practical creature work, elements that can lift format premiums and fan-forward engagement.

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 extends Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in careful craft and period language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ordering that fortifies both debut momentum and subscriber lifts in the tail. Prime Video balances catalogue additions with global acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using featured rows, fright rows, and editorial rows to maximize the tail on the navigate here 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries near their drops and coalescing around debuts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a staged of limited theatrical footprints and prompt platform moves that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with accomplished filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, updated 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. The distributor has indicated a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, marshalling the project through select festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday corridor to expand. That positioning has worked well for auteur horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception allows. Do not be surprised by 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 together, using mini theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Balance of brands and originals

By number, 2026 bends toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness fan equity. The risk, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is leading with core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the deal build is anchored enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns announce the playbook. In 2023, a cinema-first model that maintained windows did not obstruct a day-and-date experiment from winning when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, enables marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long breaks.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind this slate signal a continued preference for tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that elevates mood and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a first look that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and generates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster realization and design, which play well in expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that shine in top rooms.

Annual flow

January is stacked. 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 moody palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month wraps 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 meaningful, but the range of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

End of summer through fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited disclosures that elevate concept over story.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production rolls. 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-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s artificial companion unfolds into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Get More Info Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 unyielding boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the chain of command tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting tale that filters its scares through a minor’s uneven subjective lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house 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 lampoons of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 surges, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan bound to long-buried horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-first horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and elemental fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 2026, why now

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming launches. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, precision scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will coexist across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where low-to-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 sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, 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, soundcraft, 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 Looks Exciting

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.