Age-old Horror Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling chiller, premiering Oct 2025 on premium platforms

An hair-raising spiritual shockfest from narrative craftsman / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an age-old horror when guests become tokens in a satanic ritual. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing tale of overcoming and forgotten curse that will resculpt scare flicks this season. Crafted by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and atmospheric feature follows five figures who awaken confined in a hidden structure under the dark dominion of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a millennia-old religious nightmare. Prepare to be enthralled by a big screen presentation that blends raw fear with arcane tradition, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a recurring narrative in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is inverted when the dark entities no longer manifest outside the characters, but rather from their core. This illustrates the most terrifying dimension of these individuals. The result is a riveting mental war where the tension becomes a unforgiving contest between innocence and sin.


In a abandoned wild, five individuals find themselves isolated under the malevolent control and domination of a shadowy entity. As the protagonists becomes incapable to deny her rule, cut off and pursued by spirits unfathomable, they are pushed to confront their soulful dreads while the timeline unceasingly runs out toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease mounts and bonds disintegrate, demanding each cast member to doubt their personhood and the nature of personal agency itself. The tension rise with every minute, delivering a cinematic nightmare that weaves together unearthly horror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to channel primal fear, an darkness from prehistory, operating within emotional vulnerability, and wrestling with a darkness that redefines identity when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra called for internalizing something far beyond human desperation. She is ignorant until the entity awakens, and that transition is haunting because it is so visceral.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving horror lovers from coast to coast can engage with this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has received over thousands of viewers.


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


Experience this haunted spiral into evil. Join *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to dive into these terrifying truths about the psyche.


For teasers, filmmaker commentary, and alerts from behind the lens, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across media channels and visit the film’s website.





American horror’s watershed moment: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts fuses archetypal-possession themes, signature indie scares, and series shake-ups

Running from survival horror inspired by primordial scripture as well as canon extensions alongside focused festival visions, 2025 is lining up as the genre’s most multifaceted plus carefully orchestrated year in years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. studio majors set cornerstones via recognizable brands, simultaneously digital services pack the fall with unboxed visions plus legend-coded dread. On another front, independent banners is riding the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are precise, so 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium dread reemerges

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a bold swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, the WB camp drops the final chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson resumes command, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma explicitly handled, plus otherworld rules that chill. The ante is higher this round, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

SVOD Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a tight space body horror vignette fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No swollen lore. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops 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, from Francis Lawrence, 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.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Key Trends

Old myth goes broad
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror resurges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 Horror season: installments, original films, together with A packed Calendar aimed at chills

Dek The emerging scare year clusters early with a January pile-up, subsequently stretches through the warm months, and deep into the winter holidays, fusing name recognition, untold stories, and smart offsets. Studios and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that shape these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the steady release in release plans, a genre that can grow when it performs and still cushion the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year demonstrated to studio brass that efficiently budgeted horror vehicles can lead pop culture, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The head of steam fed into 2025, where reawakened brands and critical darlings proved there is demand for multiple flavors, from returning installments to non-IP projects that travel well. The sum for the 2026 slate is a lineup that seems notably aligned across studios, with intentional bunching, a harmony of recognizable IP and new concepts, and a sharpened commitment on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now slots in as a utility player on the distribution slate. The genre can debut on virtually any date, offer a quick sell for promo reels and short-form placements, and outpace with ticket buyers that line up on advance nights and return through the next weekend if the release lands. Exiting a production delay era, the 2026 plan exhibits faith in that approach. The slate begins with a front-loaded January band, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while holding room for a fall cadence that pushes into Halloween and into November. The map also illustrates the increasing integration of specialized imprints and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, create conversation, and broaden at the precise moment.

An added macro current is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and established properties. Major shops are not just producing another follow-up. They are aiming to frame connection with a headline quality, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a new tone or a casting move that connects a new installment to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on on-set craft, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That blend offers the 2026 slate a solid mix of familiarity and invention, which is how the films export.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket projects that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the spine, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a nostalgia-forward campaign without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. Watch for a push leaning on heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will build mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever shapes the discourse that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tidy, heartbroken, and logline-clear: a grieving man activates an virtual partner that mutates into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to mirror creepy live activations and short-cut promos that threads devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an headline beat closer to the teaser. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. The filmmaker’s films are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a second trailer wave that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, makeup-driven approach can feel premium on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio launches two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is describing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both loyalists and general audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can fuel PLF interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on minute detail and historical speech, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus Features has already locked the day for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is positive.

Digital platform strategies

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. The studio’s horror films shift to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ordering that optimizes both week-one demand and trial spikes in the downstream. Prime Video interleaves library titles with global pickups and brief theater runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in back-catalog play, using prominent placements, fright rows, and programmed rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix originals and festival deals, slotting horror entries near their drops and making event-like releases with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a paired of selective theatrical runs and fast windowing that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to invest in select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation builds.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is straightforward: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a big-screen first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the December frame to expand. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception encourages. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using small theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By skew, 2026 is weighted toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The concern, as ever, is viewer burnout. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony check my blog is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French sensibility from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the packaging is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Recent comps clarify the logic. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept clean windows did not obstruct a hybrid test from winning when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reorient and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on 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 filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to interlace chapters through character arcs and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

Production craft signals

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued bias toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates creep and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a 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 calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster realization and design, which align with convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is full. 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 moody palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the variety of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a transitional slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that put concept first.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February get redirected here 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s AI companion turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 severe boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance of power shifts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to horror, built on Cronin’s practical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that threads the dread through a young child’s wavering inner lens. Rating: TBA. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: major-studio 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 reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that targets of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new family caught in past horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBD. Production: continuing. 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 period-specific language and elemental menace. Rating: pending. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 and why Source now

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that eased or reshuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine bite-size scare clips from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lean-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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled 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 respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient screen counts, 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 materiality, sound field, 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.

A Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is franchise muscle where it helps, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.