Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This bone-chilling occult nightmare movie from literary architect / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an primordial force when foreigners become tools in a dark trial. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving story of continuance and forgotten curse that will remodel horror this scare season. Crafted by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy fearfest follows five lost souls who wake up confined in a cut-off cabin under the hostile power of Kyra, a central character claimed by a prehistoric sacrosanct terror. Steel yourself to be absorbed by a audio-visual display that combines bodily fright with timeless legends, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a iconic fixture in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is challenged when the dark entities no longer arise from external sources, but rather inside their minds. This depicts the malevolent version of each of them. The result is a riveting internal warfare where the conflict becomes a brutal fight between innocence and sin.


In a forsaken terrain, five young people find themselves marooned under the ominous aura and curse of a secretive person. As the companions becomes vulnerable to escape her will, isolated and tormented by forces unimaginable, they are pushed to face their inner horrors while the timeline without pity ticks onward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear intensifies and partnerships splinter, compelling each protagonist to scrutinize their identity and the foundation of personal agency itself. The consequences magnify with every passing moment, delivering a horror experience that harmonizes spiritual fright with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to draw upon pure dread, an threat beyond recorded history, working through our fears, and challenging a power that peels away humanity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was centered on something darker than pain. She is unaware until the curse activates, and that flip is haunting because it is so deep.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering users globally can engage with this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first preview, which has attracted over 100,000 views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, giving access to the movie to global fright lovers.


Witness this heart-stopping voyage through terror. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to uncover these haunting secrets about mankind.


For featurettes, making-of footage, and reveals from the creators, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit the movie’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s watershed moment: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule melds biblical-possession ideas, signature indie scares, in parallel with franchise surges

Spanning survivor-centric dread suffused with near-Eastern lore and stretching into IP renewals plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex paired with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Top studios set cornerstones via recognizable brands, in parallel streaming platforms load up the fall with unboxed visions paired with scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, horror’s indie wing is catching the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween holding the peak, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are targeted, hence 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the base, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a contemporary Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer winds down, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, plus otherworld rules that chill. The bar is raised this go, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It posts in December, pinning the winter close.

Digital Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story starring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

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

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Conceived 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. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 an astute call. No bloated canon. No series drag. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in 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 arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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 like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The approaching terror lineup: returning titles, Originals, plus A brimming Calendar aimed at goosebumps

Dek: The fresh terror season stacks from day one with a January crush, and then flows through summer, and continuing into the year-end corridor, combining brand equity, inventive spins, and strategic counter-scheduling. The big buyers and platforms are relying on cost discipline, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-fueled campaigns that elevate these pictures into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The field has solidified as the bankable play in studio calendars, a category that can expand when it hits and still mitigate the exposure when it does not. After 2023 reminded top brass that responsibly budgeted entries can command cultural conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The momentum moved into the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers signaled there is a market for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The takeaway for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across the market, with clear date clusters, a mix of known properties and fresh ideas, and a re-energized attention on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital and home streaming.

Planners observe the horror lane now operates like a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can roll out on many corridors, supply a clear pitch for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with demo groups that line up on preview nights and continue through the week two if the title delivers. Exiting a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan underscores assurance in that logic. The slate begins with a crowded January block, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a late-year stretch that runs into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The map also features the increasing integration of specialized imprints and streaming partners that can platform a title, grow buzz, and expand at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across linked properties and established properties. The studios are not just releasing another return. They are shaping as brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a logo package that flags a reframed mood or a casting choice that anchors a new entry to a early run. At the same time, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are prioritizing practical craft, on-set effects and place-driven backdrops. That interplay provides the 2026 slate a lively combination of brand comfort and surprise, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount leads early with two marquee releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the heart, framing it as both a legacy handover and a heritage-centered character study. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture suggests a throwback-friendly strategy without recycling the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Watch for a push driven by iconic art, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick shifts to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is straightforward, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an algorithmic mate that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo strange in-person beats and micro spots that interlaces love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title drop to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are framed as signature events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, hands-on effects style can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is selling as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both core fans and casuals. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can drive format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors 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 obsessive craft and archaic language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The company has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s horror titles move to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that elevates both premiere heat and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with worldwide buys and small theatrical windows when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in deep cuts, using prominent placements, holiday hubs, and featured rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival snaps, confirming horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops releases with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 sequence with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical rollout for the title, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has proved effective for prestige horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can break Source out if reception merits. Look for 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 in parallel, using mini theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their membership.

Legacy titles versus originals

By weight, 2026 favors the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is centering character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-inflected take from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the bundle is steady enough to spark pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Comparable trends from recent years frame the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not stop a day-date move from winning when the brand was sticky. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, creates space for marketing to relate entries through character arcs and themes and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

Production craft signals

The production chatter behind these films forecast a continued move toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft journalism and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a first look that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that elevate hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

Month-by-month map

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 atmospheric change-up amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tonal variety opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Pre-summer months build the summer base. Scream 7 comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited asset reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion turns into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

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 run into a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 demanding boss claw to survive on a rugged island as the power balance of power shifts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fright, shaped by Cronin’s physical craft and slow-bloom 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 in-home haunting tale that mediates the fear via a youth’s wavering POV. Rating: pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-crafted and A-list fronted occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that targets today’s horror trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further extends again, with a another family tethered to residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. 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: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving forward. 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-specific language and ancient menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the moment is 2026

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that eased or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming launches. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine meme-ready beats from test screenings, select scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Promising 2026

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is IP strength where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.