Age-old Evil Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising thriller, landing October 2025 across major streaming services

This haunting spectral suspense film from narrative craftsman / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an mythic curse when unknowns become tools in a hellish experiment. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful chronicle of overcoming and old world terror that will transform horror this spooky time. Brought to life by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and claustrophobic film follows five teens who arise caught in a cut-off dwelling under the malignant manipulation of Kyra, a haunted figure controlled by a legendary ancient fiend. Ready yourself to be seized by a big screen journey that merges intense horror with legendary tales, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary tradition in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is redefined when the spirits no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather from their psyche. This depicts the shadowy version of every character. The result is a riveting moral showdown where the tension becomes a ongoing face-off between light and darkness.


In a unforgiving wild, five youths find themselves imprisoned under the malicious presence and grasp of a uncanny woman. As the companions becomes powerless to combat her grasp, isolated and chased by forces indescribable, they are cornered to deal with their inner demons while the doomsday meter relentlessly moves toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease grows and teams collapse, demanding each individual to doubt their identity and the integrity of volition itself. The danger intensify with every fleeting time, delivering a chilling narrative that connects otherworldly panic with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to channel primal fear, an presence before modern man, embedding itself in our weaknesses, and testing a being that questions who we are when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra required summoning something darker than pain. She is uninformed until the demon emerges, and that change is shocking because it is so close.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure users everywhere can experience this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has garnered over massive response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, bringing the film to horror fans worldwide.


Do not miss this life-altering journey into fear. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to acknowledge these unholy truths about the psyche.


For director insights, director cuts, and insider scoops from the creators, follow @YACMovie across platforms and visit our film’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s major pivot: the 2025 cycle U.S. release slate integrates archetypal-possession themes, signature indie scares, and legacy-brand quakes

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales drawn from mythic scripture to canon extensions paired with surgical indie voices, 2025 stands to become the most variegated paired with deliberate year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners are anchoring the year through proven series, simultaneously subscription platforms prime the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and archetypal fear. Meanwhile, independent banners is propelled by the kinetic energy from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween holding the peak, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, as a result 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal sets the tone with a bold swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in an immediate now. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer winds down, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters bet on familiarity, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a body horror chamber piece fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, 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. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also notable is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

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. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, steered by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror reemerges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The new scare year to come: brand plays, standalone ideas, And A jammed Calendar Built For frights

Dek The new genre slate clusters up front with a January logjam, then rolls through the warm months, and running into the winter holidays, fusing franchise firepower, novel approaches, and calculated alternatives. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on mid-range economics, theatrical leads, and shareable marketing that transform these offerings into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the steady option in studio lineups, a genre that can accelerate when it resonates and still cushion the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year demonstrated to decision-makers that mid-range genre plays can dominate social chatter, 2024 maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The carry fed into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and awards-minded projects made clear there is space for many shades, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a lineup that looks unusually coordinated across the market, with intentional bunching, a mix of established brands and original hooks, and a renewed eye on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and home streaming.

Executives say the space now works like a fill-in ace on the programming map. Horror can launch on virtually any date, offer a simple premise for spots and short-form placements, and over-index with ticket buyers that lean in on opening previews and stick through the second frame if the title lands. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 setup telegraphs certainty in that approach. The slate kicks off with a loaded January lineup, then targets spring into early summer for counterprogramming, while saving space for a late-year stretch that carries into All Hallows period and into November. The arrangement also spotlights the ongoing integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and widen at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just producing another follow-up. They are setting up threaded continuity with a occasion, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a re-angled tone or a casting move that links a new entry to a initial period. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the eagerly awaited originals are championing material texture, real effects and grounded locations. That blend produces the 2026 slate a solid mix of familiarity and novelty, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount establishes early momentum with two big-ticket moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, presenting it as both a lineage transfer and a origin-leaning character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative posture signals a memory-charged bent without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Count on a promo wave rooted in recognizable motifs, first images of characters, and a trailer cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reignites 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 development for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will drive general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick pivots to whatever defines trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tidy, loss-driven, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an intelligent companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with Universal’s team likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and brief clips that interweaves companionship and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a branding reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are marketed as marquee events, with a teaser that holds back and a later trailer push that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, physical-effects centered style can feel cinematic on a controlled budget. Look for a red-band summer horror jolt that emphasizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a steady supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around lore, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate deluxe auditorium demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is warm.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre slate feed copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a tiered path that maximizes both initial urgency and sub growth in the later window. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with global pickups and brief theater runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in archive usage, using editorial spots, genre hubs, and curated rows to lengthen the tail on lifetime take. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival pickups, scheduling horror entries tight to release and coalescing around rollouts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a tiered of focused cinema runs and accelerated platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to secure select projects with established auteurs or star packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to widen. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception warrants. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using targeted theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their user base.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, 2026 favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to present each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and auteur plays add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the deal build is familiar enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Past-three-year patterns make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept streaming intact did not stop a hybrid test from winning when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to link the films through cast and motif and to keep materials circulating without lulls.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The creative meetings behind the 2026 entries point to a continued move toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers unease and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-aware reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature work and production design, which are ideal for booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel key. Look for trailers that underscore precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that explode in larger rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is packed. 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 winds down 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 stiff, but the tonal variety affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring seed summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Source Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s intelligent companion becomes something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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

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 confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss try to survive on a desolate island as the power balance flips and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to menace, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting scenario that channels the fear through a kid’s shifting POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody return that satirizes current genre trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 breaks out, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan bound to past horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBA. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and primordial menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on social-ready stingers from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, making room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in 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 robust premium-format allocation 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 modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first 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 Young & Cursed classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 rhythm and variety. January is a banquet, 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 icy, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, lean footprints, 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 texture, aural design, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand power where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.