Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

An hair-raising unearthly shockfest from creator / director Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an timeless curse when unknowns become subjects in a cursed ordeal. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching episode of overcoming and prehistoric entity that will remodel fear-driven cinema this autumn. Crafted by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and immersive screenplay follows five unknowns who awaken ensnared in a remote structure under the sinister dominion of Kyra, a young woman dominated by a prehistoric Old Testament spirit. Anticipate to be seized by a motion picture display that merges primitive horror with ancestral stories, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a time-honored trope in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is subverted when the spirits no longer emerge outside the characters, but rather deep within. This illustrates the deepest layer of all involved. The result is a gripping moral showdown where the conflict becomes a soul-crushing clash between righteousness and malevolence.


In a barren landscape, five youths find themselves stuck under the ghastly dominion and inhabitation of a secretive woman. As the cast becomes paralyzed to break her grasp, marooned and pursued by evils beyond comprehension, they are compelled to reckon with their raw vulnerabilities while the time unceasingly ticks onward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust grows and ties crack, requiring each figure to examine their existence and the philosophy of volition itself. The tension intensify with every fleeting time, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that integrates spiritual fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to draw upon core terror, an entity that existed before mankind, emerging via our fears, and challenging a will that strips down our being when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra asked for exploring something past sanity. She is in denial until the control shifts, and that transition is haunting because it is so internal.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering audiences worldwide can experience this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first preview, which has gathered over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, extending the thrill to viewers around the world.


Avoid skipping this visceral fall into madness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this launch day to survive these chilling revelations about inner darkness.


For director insights, production news, and news from inside the story, follow @YACMovie across fan hubs and visit the official website.





The horror genre’s watershed moment: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup weaves biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, plus franchise surges

Running from endurance-driven terror drawn from mythic scripture to IP renewals paired with surgical indie voices, 2025 looks like the most dimensioned as well as strategic year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. top-tier distributors hold down the year by way of signature titles, as premium streamers load up the fall with fresh voices together with mythic dread. In the indie lane, horror’s indie wing is carried on the kinetic energy of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the other windows are mapped with care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are methodical, hence 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal Pictures sets the tone with an audacious swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, speaking to teens and older millennials. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters lean on names and sequels, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror duet pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative with Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

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 Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. 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. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in 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. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It looks like sharp programming. No puffed out backstory. No sequel clutter. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

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



The oncoming Horror Year Ahead: follow-ups, new stories, plus A Crowded Calendar designed for Scares

Dek The arriving horror slate crowds at the outset with a January crush, before it stretches through summer corridors, and running into the festive period, mixing series momentum, untold stories, and shrewd calendar placement. Studios with streamers are embracing right-sized spends, big-screen-first runs, and shareable marketing that shape these films into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror marketplace has turned into the consistent move in studio lineups, a category that can break out when it catches and still safeguard the drag when it does not. After the 2023 year signaled to executives that low-to-mid budget genre plays can lead the national conversation, 2024 maintained heat with director-led heat and stealth successes. The head of steam flowed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries confirmed there is capacity for multiple flavors, from sequel tracks to fresh IP that perform internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across the market, with purposeful groupings, a balance of recognizable IP and fresh ideas, and a re-energized attention on release windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and SVOD.

Marketers add the space now serves as a versatile piece on the distribution slate. The genre can open on most weekends, furnish a sharp concept for trailers and short-form placements, and punch above weight with patrons that lean in on Thursday previews and maintain momentum through the second weekend if the movie delivers. Following a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 plan indicates comfort in that playbook. The slate rolls out with a busy January run, then exploits spring through early summer for genre counterpoints, while keeping space for a fall cadence that carries into Halloween and past the holiday. The map also includes the increasing integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can platform a title, grow buzz, and widen at the right moment.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across shared IP webs and storied titles. Major shops are not just making another return. They are looking to package connection with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that signals a reframed mood or a casting pivot that binds a next film to a heyday. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing practical craft, on-set effects and concrete locations. That blend delivers 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and invention, which is the formula for international play.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the core, steering it as both a legacy handover and a rootsy character-centered film. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative posture telegraphs a throwback-friendly mode without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters thread. A campaign is expected centered on iconic art, first images of characters, and a promo sequence aimed at late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens 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 hook the campaign will double down on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will drive wide buzz through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format inviting quick turns to whatever shapes pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tidy, grief-rooted, and high-concept: a grieving man implements an artificial companion that mutates into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s marketing likely to renew viral uncanny stunts and micro spots that threads companionship and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror Source film, widely read as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title reveal to become an event moment closer to the first look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s work are presented as signature events, with a hinting teaser and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The spooky-season slot allows Universal to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a raw, practical-effects forward method can feel cinematic on a moderate cost. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror shot that centers overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio sets two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, holding a trusty supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is selling as a clean-slate approach 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 explicit mandate to serve both players and novices. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and historical speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already set the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is favorable.

Streaming windows and tactics

Windowing plans in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s slate transition to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a cadence that amplifies both launch urgency and subscription bumps in the tail. Prime Video blends library titles with worldwide buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog engagement, using editorial spots, spooky hubs, and curated strips to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival deals, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to buy select projects with name filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical-first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The caveat, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is leading with core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is steady enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent-year comps illuminate the plan. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not deter a day-date move from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror over-performed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel new when they rotate perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot consecutively, allows marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to hold creative in the market without extended gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind this year’s genre point to a continued emphasis on in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster realization and design, which favor booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is heavy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps 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 stiff, but the mix of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s machine mate becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 work to survive on a desolate island as the power balance swivels and mistrust rises. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to horror, shaped by Cronin’s practical effects and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting scenario that plays with the dread of a child’s wobbly perspective. Rating: not yet rated. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: major-studio and star-led 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 targets current genre trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan linked to past horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: to be announced. Production: underway. 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 time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage meme-ready beats from test screenings, select scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the this content early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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 cost-efficient 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 unexpected breakout 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value 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 credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound field, 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.