Primordial Dread Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling chiller, debuting Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An eerie ghostly shockfest from creator / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an archaic evil when passersby become tools in a demonic conflict. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful tale of continuance and archaic horror that will remodel the fear genre this season. Realized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and cinematic fearfest follows five teens who emerge trapped in a secluded cabin under the sinister sway of Kyra, a tormented girl inhabited by a millennia-old sacred-era entity. Prepare to be shaken by a audio-visual spectacle that intertwines primitive horror with legendary tales, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a legendary pillar in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is reimagined when the presences no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather internally. This depicts the most hidden layer of each of them. The result is a harrowing internal warfare where the emotions becomes a perpetual battle between virtue and vice.


In a unforgiving natural abyss, five friends find themselves marooned under the ominous influence and grasp of a mysterious female figure. As the protagonists becomes helpless to combat her influence, detached and preyed upon by terrors indescribable, they are forced to deal with their inner horrors while the time unceasingly edges forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion intensifies and partnerships erode, coercing each individual to challenge their true nature and the notion of free will itself. The threat climb with every minute, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that merges unearthly horror with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to evoke deep fear, an curse beyond time, manifesting in mental cracks, and highlighting a entity that strips down our being when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra needed manifesting something past sanity. She is blind until the takeover begins, and that shift is harrowing because it is so emotional.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that watchers across the world can enjoy this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original clip, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, exporting the fear to viewers around the world.


Witness this life-altering descent into hell. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to dive into these chilling revelations about the soul.


For exclusive trailers, production insights, and announcements from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit our spooky domain.





Horror’s sea change: the 2025 season U.S. Slate weaves archetypal-possession themes, underground frights, and returning-series thunder

From survivor-centric dread inspired by scriptural legend and including IP renewals and pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified paired with precision-timed year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios lay down anchors through proven series, at the same time OTT services stack the fall with unboxed visions paired with ancestral chills. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is propelled by the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween holding the peak, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s schedule kicks off the frame with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and the memorable motifs return: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time, the stakes are raised, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, broadens the animatronic terror cast, courting teens and the thirty something base. It arrives in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Plays: Slim budgets, major punch

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane 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 toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at 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 From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is canny scheduling. No swollen lore. No sequel clutter. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Badges as Fuel

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

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. 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 one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, with Francis Lawrence directing, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Emerging Currents

Old myth goes broad
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

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

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming spook Year Ahead: follow-ups, fresh concepts, and also A stacked Calendar geared toward jolts

Dek The brand-new scare cycle stacks early with a January pile-up, following that runs through the warm months, and far into the late-year period, fusing IP strength, inventive spins, and data-minded counterplay. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing right-sized spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that shape genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the predictable release in studio lineups, a pillar that can surge when it clicks and still buffer the floor when it underperforms. After 2023 reminded buyers that low-to-mid budget scare machines can shape mainstream conversation, 2024 extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and slow-burn breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where re-entries and awards-minded projects signaled there is a market for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The result for 2026 is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a combination of household franchises and new packages, and a refocused priority on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and streaming.

Studio leaders note the space now behaves like a versatile piece on the slate. The genre can kick off on a wide range of weekends, offer a clean hook for marketing and shorts, and outperform with ticket buyers that line up on preview nights and stay strong through the second frame if the movie hits. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores belief in that equation. The slate starts with a busy January corridor, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a late-year stretch that runs into spooky season and past the holiday. The layout also illustrates the continuing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and scale up at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across connected story worlds and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just rolling another chapter. They are moving to present threaded continuity with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that conveys a new vibe or a cast configuration that ties a new entry to a foundational era. At the very same time, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are doubling down on hands-on technique, in-camera effects and distinct locales. That interplay provides 2026 a healthy mix of brand comfort and shock, which is what works overseas.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount defines the early cadence with two big-ticket plays that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the focus, framing it as both a baton pass and a back-to-basics character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative posture hints at a heritage-honoring treatment without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign leaning on signature symbols, character previews, and a promo sequence aimed at late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will emphasize. As a summer contrast play, this one will chase broad awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format permitting quick turns to whatever shapes the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete strategies. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is crisp, somber, and easily pitched: a grieving man onboards an artificial companion that escalates into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with marketing at Universal likely to echo odd public stunts and quick hits that interlaces romance and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a public title to become an fan moment closer to the early tease. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His projects are set up as signature events, with a opaque teaser and a follow-up trailer set that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween runway affords Universal to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has made clear that a blood-soaked, in-camera leaning treatment can feel cinematic on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror shock that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio rolls out two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, holding a evergreen supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is marketing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around canon, and creature design, elements that can lift large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror centered on minute detail and historical speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. The imprint has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is enthusiastic.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that boosts both first-week urgency and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about his comment is here Netflix films and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries near launch and eventizing releases with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a dual-phase of precision releases and prompt platform moves that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has indicated interest to buy select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 corridor 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 straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, updated for modern sound 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 wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to go wider. That positioning has delivered for arthouse horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception drives. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using mini theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is staleness. The preferred tactic is to package each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the deal build is comforting enough to build pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent comps make sense of the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not prevent a parallel release from succeeding when the brand was big. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in premium screens. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and scale the storytelling. That last point 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 in sequence, allows marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

Production craft signals

The craft rooms behind 2026 horror suggest a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for textured sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which lend themselves to booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel must-have. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps 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 range of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Late Q1 and spring stage summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

End of summer through fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: navigate to this website Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: gothic-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 scramble to survive on a rugged island as the power dynamic inverts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fear, based on Cronin’s physical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting setup that twists the unease of a child’s tricky point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-financed and headline-actor led haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that lampoons contemporary horror memes and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a unlucky family lashed to old terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. 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: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: continuing. 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 language and raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why this year, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces drive this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work shareable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, freeing space for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will cluster across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Anticipate a robust 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 pace and range. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound field, and camera work 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 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, new vision where it lands, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.