Age-old Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, bowing Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

An bone-chilling paranormal scare-fest from scriptwriter / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an mythic malevolence when guests become instruments in a satanic ordeal. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping journey of resistance and primeval wickedness that will revamp horror this spooky time. Guided by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and gothic feature follows five individuals who emerge ensnared in a wooded cabin under the aggressive power of Kyra, a young woman controlled by a prehistoric biblical force. Be warned to be ensnared by a audio-visual presentation that combines instinctive fear with timeless legends, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a iconic trope in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is turned on its head when the forces no longer develop outside the characters, but rather inside their minds. This mirrors the most primal dimension of every character. The result is a psychologically brutal cognitive warzone where the conflict becomes a perpetual battle between heaven and hell.


In a abandoned landscape, five young people find themselves sealed under the malevolent force and overtake of a enigmatic female presence. As the ensemble becomes submissive to combat her curse, cut off and stalked by creatures unimaginable, they are driven to reckon with their emotional phantoms while the seconds coldly winds toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension escalates and bonds break, demanding each protagonist to contemplate their self and the principle of decision-making itself. The pressure mount with every instant, delivering a paranormal ride that harmonizes otherworldly suspense with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dive into primal fear, an malevolence rooted in antiquity, emerging via emotional vulnerability, and confronting a being that redefines identity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra was centered on something rooted in terror. She is uninformed until the control shifts, and that flip is bone-chilling because it is so emotional.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering subscribers anywhere can engage with this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original promo, which has collected over strong viewer count.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, extending the thrill to global fright lovers.


Avoid skipping this haunted fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to witness these dark realities about the mind.


For behind-the-scenes access, on-set glimpses, and insider scoops from the cast and crew, follow @YACMovie across media channels and visit the official digital haunt.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: 2025 U.S. lineup fuses Mythic Possession, underground frights, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Moving from survival horror drawn from legendary theology through to series comebacks and pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like the richest together with strategic year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors are anchoring the year via recognizable brands, even as streamers stack the fall with fresh voices in concert with scriptural shivers. On another front, the independent cohort is riding the afterglow from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween stays the prime week, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, notably this year, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner fires the first shot with a risk-forward move: a refreshed Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer fades, Warner’s schedule releases the last chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson is back, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: vintage toned fear, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The bar is raised this go, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It books December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Plays: Slim budgets, major punch

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a sealed box body horror arc including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a smart play. No bloated mythology. No sequel clutter. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, 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.

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.

Trend Lines

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

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theaters are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The 2026 fright slate: returning titles, fresh concepts, as well as A packed Calendar engineered for chills

Dek The upcoming terror cycle loads right away with a January bottleneck, after that flows through midyear, and continuing into the winter holidays, combining IP strength, creative pitches, and shrewd calendar placement. Studios and streamers are betting on efficient budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and social-fueled campaigns that shape these offerings into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has become the consistent release in annual schedules, a category that can spike when it resonates and still protect the risk when it falls short. After 2023 proved to greenlighters that cost-conscious fright engines can shape social chatter, the following year sustained momentum with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The trend extended into 2025, where revivals and arthouse crossovers signaled there is room for varied styles, from franchise continuations to original features that carry overseas. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across the field, with mapped-out bands, a blend of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a refocused emphasis on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on PVOD and subscription services.

Planners observe the category now slots in as a utility player on the grid. Horror can roll out on nearly any frame, furnish a clean hook for spots and vertical videos, and over-index with moviegoers that come out on Thursday previews and stick through the follow-up frame if the movie satisfies. After a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern exhibits conviction in that logic. The slate starts with a crowded January lineup, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a fall run that flows toward holiday-adjacent weekends and beyond. The grid also spotlights the ongoing integration of arthouse labels and home platforms that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and widen at the timely point.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across shared universes and classic IP. The companies are not just making another return. They are moving to present story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a lead change that connects a new entry to a heyday. At the alongside this, the directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into practical craft, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That combination gives 2026 a healthy mix of assurance and invention, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount establishes early momentum with two high-profile plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the lead, steering it as both a relay and a rootsy character-centered film. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a legacy-leaning framework without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push leaning on signature symbols, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will lean on. As a summer relief option, this one will drive wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever defines the discourse that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man purchases an digital partner that becomes a murderous partner. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew creepy live activations and brief clips that mixes romance and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. The filmmaker’s films are sold as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a visceral, in-camera leaning approach can feel prestige on a tight budget. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror shock that centers international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan aims 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 reset 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 directive to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and creature effects, elements that can accelerate premium booking interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on immersive craft and archaic language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is favorable.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles flow to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a sequence that amplifies both initial urgency and sub growth in the downstream. Prime Video interleaves library titles with global originals and brief theater runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in back-catalog play, using in-app campaigns, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about original films and festival acquisitions, locking in horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is no-nonsense: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the December frame to move out. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception justifies. 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 limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchises versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate tips toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The question, as ever, is overexposure. The practical approach is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is familiar enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years help explain the template. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in premium large format. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they change perspective and widen scale. That last point see here is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds 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 filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to leave creative active without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The shop talk behind 2026 horror hint at a continued preference for physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a initial teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid heavier IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the mix of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner shifts into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the power dynamic shifts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s tactile craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 closed-door haunting premise that plays with the terror of a child’s unreliable read. Rating: not yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satirical comeback that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 detonates, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new family bound to lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental menace. Rating: pending. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards More about the author 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 sleeper-hit hunt 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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. 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, 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 sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound field, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.