Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising chiller, streaming October 2025 across leading streamers

This bone-chilling metaphysical thriller from cinematographer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an age-old curse when unfamiliar people become pawns in a satanic maze. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing saga of endurance and old world terror that will remodel horror this spooky time. Guided by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and eerie story follows five strangers who snap to isolated in a wooded shack under the hostile will of Kyra, a tormented girl dominated by a millennia-old biblical demon. Ready yourself to be ensnared by a visual venture that harmonizes soul-chilling terror with folklore, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a recurring tradition in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is subverted when the forces no longer come outside the characters, but rather inside them. This echoes the most primal corner of the victims. The result is a riveting identity crisis where the tension becomes a constant struggle between innocence and sin.


In a unforgiving natural abyss, five souls find themselves imprisoned under the dark rule and domination of a unknown spirit. As the protagonists becomes helpless to escape her control, stranded and chased by creatures unfathomable, they are made to battle their raw vulnerabilities while the countdown harrowingly counts down toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia escalates and links erode, pushing each soul to scrutinize their core and the structure of self-determination itself. The consequences climb with every beat, delivering a horror experience that merges unearthly horror with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to awaken pure dread, an spirit beyond recorded history, emerging via fragile psyche, and examining a will that strips down our being when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant evoking something past sanity. She is unaware until the control shifts, and that evolution is deeply unsettling because it is so emotional.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure users anywhere can engage with this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, giving access to the movie to a global viewership.


Experience this bone-rattling descent into darkness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For featurettes, production news, and insider scoops from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





American horror’s tipping point: 2025 in focus stateside slate interlaces legend-infused possession, signature indie scares, stacked beside returning-series thunder

Moving from survivor-centric dread suffused with biblical myth and stretching into brand-name continuations set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 appears poised to be the genre’s most multifaceted combined with carefully orchestrated year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors are anchoring the year through proven series, concurrently OTT services flood the fall with emerging auteurs alongside legend-coded dread. In the indie lane, independent banners is drafting behind the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, and now, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are methodical, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s distribution arm begins the calendar with a confident swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, instead in a current-day frame. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, the WB camp releases the last chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, with ghostly inner logic. The ante is higher this round, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, speaking to teens and older millennials. It opens in December, holding the cold season’s end.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, 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 knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a two hander body horror spiral including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story with Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No IP hangover. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

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

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, 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.

Heritage Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes 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.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, under Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new chiller calendar year ahead: Sequels, original films, together with A Crowded Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The new genre season stacks at the outset with a January cluster, thereafter stretches through the warm months, and deep into the festive period, combining brand equity, novel approaches, and data-minded offsets. Studios and streamers are relying on right-sized spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that frame genre titles into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the sturdy move in annual schedules, a space that can surge when it performs and still cushion the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reassured top brass that mid-range genre plays can galvanize audience talk, 2024 carried the beat with festival-darling auteurs and stealth successes. The run moved into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets demonstrated there is an opening for several lanes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with defined corridors, a blend of legacy names and new packages, and a tightened focus on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and subscription services.

Schedulers say the genre now serves as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, provide a clean hook for marketing and reels, and overperform with crowds that show up on Thursday previews and stick through the second frame if the offering satisfies. Exiting a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan signals trust in that dynamic. The year commences with a heavy January window, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while keeping space for a fall corridor that extends to the fright window and beyond. The schedule also reflects the tightening integration of arthouse labels and SVOD players that can launch in limited release, build word of mouth, and move wide at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and long-running brands. The players are not just greenlighting another return. They are moving to present story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a new tone or a star attachment that connects a next film to a heyday. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into in-camera technique, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That interplay hands 2026 a lively combination of known notes and invention, which is what works overseas.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a heritage-honoring approach without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run driven by heritage visuals, character previews, and a tease cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also relaunches 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will foreground. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that melds companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read 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 makes room for a title reveal to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. The filmmaker’s films are framed as event films, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a tactile, hands-on effects treatment can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Position this as a splatter summer horror rush that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is framing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on minute detail and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal titles head to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video blends licensed titles with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using editorial spots, genre hubs, and handpicked rows to stretch the tail on overall cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival deals, confirming horror entries closer to launch and staging as events rollouts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a two-step of tailored theatrical exposure and quick platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to take on select projects with prestige directors or star 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’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 runway with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, refined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday slot to broaden. That positioning has helped for prestige 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 brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception merits. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical this website to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The trade-off, as ever, is fatigue. The near-term solution is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is steady enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps help explain the method. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not deter a day-date try from working when the brand was big. In 2024, auteur craft horror rose in premium formats. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reorient and elevate scope. 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 double feature plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The filmmaking conversations behind these films suggest a continued move toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers texture and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that centers its original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature design and production design, which fit with convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that center disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in big rooms.

Release calendar overview

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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid larger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the range of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late winter and spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now enables 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can win 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 premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: atmospheric 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 severe boss battle to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 residential haunting scenario that channels the fear through a little one’s flickering POV. Rating: to be announced. Production: picture-locked. 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 involved creatively again. Logline: {A spoof revival that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 spreads, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new clan tethered to returning horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active development with set 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: closely held. Rating: pending. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and primordial menace. Rating: TBA. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on repeatable beats from test screenings, select scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Calendar math also matters. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will share space across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where lower and 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, 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 tempo and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, soundcraft, and image-making 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

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is recognizable IP where it plays, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.