Mythic Horror Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror feature, streaming Oct 2025 on global platforms

An terrifying metaphysical terror film from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an forgotten dread when unknowns become tools in a hellish contest. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing saga of resilience and primeval wickedness that will revolutionize the fear genre this October. Produced by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and gothic tale follows five people who are stirred stranded in a remote lodge under the dark influence of Kyra, a possessed female dominated by a legendary biblical force. Arm yourself to be ensnared by a big screen event that blends visceral dread with legendary tales, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a classic foundation in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is twisted when the fiends no longer arise from beyond, but rather internally. This mirrors the darkest part of the victims. The result is a riveting spiritual tug-of-war where the emotions becomes a relentless struggle between innocence and sin.


In a unforgiving wild, five young people find themselves confined under the dark grip and haunting of a shadowy character. As the cast becomes defenseless to withstand her dominion, abandoned and chased by entities beyond comprehension, they are made to stand before their inner horrors while the countdown ruthlessly edges forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion mounts and links disintegrate, compelling each survivor to reconsider their essence and the idea of autonomy itself. The pressure escalate with every instant, delivering a cinematic nightmare that combines paranormal dread with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dive into primal fear, an force born of forgotten ages, emerging via soul-level flaws, and exposing a will that questions who we are when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra asked for exploring something deeper than fear. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that change is deeply unsettling because it is so intimate.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure fans everywhere can dive into this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original clip, which has gathered over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, giving access to the movie to viewers around the world.


Experience this visceral voyage through terror. Join *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to uncover these evil-rooted truths about free will.


For exclusive trailers, production news, and alerts from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 in focus U.S. calendar weaves primeval-possession lore, underground frights, together with brand-name tremors

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in scriptural legend as well as legacy revivals in concert with acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted plus deliberate year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio majors plant stakes across the year through proven series, while OTT services crowd the fall with new voices in concert with primordial unease. Meanwhile, indie storytellers is catching the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are precise, which means 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige terror resurfaces

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

Universal’s pipeline leads off the quarter with a big gambit: a refashioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a clear present-tense world. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. arriving mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

By late summer, the Warner Bros. banner rolls out the capstone from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re boards, and those signature textures resurface: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, buttoning the final window.

SVOD Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While cinemas swing on series strength, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror duet led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn featuring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy IP: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Dials to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror resurges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

The Road Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

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 grind for attention. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The forthcoming 2026 chiller season: next chapters, universe starters, in tandem with A loaded Calendar optimized for goosebumps

Dek The emerging terror slate packs immediately with a January logjam, then unfolds through the warm months, and running into the late-year period, braiding brand heft, new concepts, and well-timed offsets. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on tight budgets, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that transform genre releases into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has become the consistent move in release strategies, a pillar that can grow when it connects and still insulate the losses when it does not. After 2023 re-taught top brass that disciplined-budget pictures can steer audience talk, 2024 extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam pushed into 2025, where revived properties and premium-leaning entries confirmed there is a market for many shades, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across the industry, with clear date clusters, a mix of legacy names and new packages, and a recommitted attention on box-office windows that drive downstream revenue on premium home window and platforms.

Insiders argue the genre now serves as a versatile piece on the distribution slate. The genre can arrive on most weekends, offer a clear pitch for ad units and platform-native cuts, and outperform with audiences that arrive on early shows and return through the follow-up frame if the title delivers. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 pattern demonstrates assurance in that equation. The year launches with a heavy January run, then targets spring into early summer for contrast, while saving space for a fall cadence that carries into the Halloween corridor and into early November. The arrangement also features the continuing integration of specialty arms and platforms that can develop over weeks, create conversation, and widen at the timely point.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across interlocking continuities and legacy IP. Major shops are not just pushing another next film. They are shaping as threaded continuity with a occasion, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a refreshed voice or a lead change that bridges a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into tactile craft, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That combination offers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of home base and surprise, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount marks the early tempo with two high-profile releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the core, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a roots-evoking framework without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign built on recognizable motifs, first images of characters, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will pursue wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format supporting quick reframes to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three distinct plays. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, somber, and high-concept: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that turns into a dangerous lover. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew odd public stunts and micro spots that blurs attachment and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are branded as director events, with a minimalist tease and a second wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has established that a raw, prosthetic-heavy method can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror shock 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 IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is billing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and first-timers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around mythos, and creature builds, elements that can boost premium screens and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet his comment is here on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in textural authenticity and historical speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that expands both debut momentum and platform bumps in the downstream. Prime Video blends library titles with world buys and brief theater runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using timely promos, October hubs, and collection rows to extend momentum on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival deals, dating horror entries tight to release and positioning as event drops rollouts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation intensifies.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday corridor to move out. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is leading with character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the assembly is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set contextualize the template. In 2023, a theater-first model that observed windows did not foreclose a dual release from performing when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they change perspective and scale the storytelling. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, permits marketing to tie installments through character spine and themes and to leave creative active without long breaks.

Behind-the-camera trends

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued tilt toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that foregrounds tone and tension rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft profiles and guild coverage before rolling out a tone piece that withholds plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and produces shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster realization and design, which are ideal for fan conventions and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that sing on PLF.

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

February through May prime the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads 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 lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a transitional slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s intelligent companion escalates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: mood-led 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 prickly boss battle to survive on a cut-off island as the chain of command inverts and dread encroaches. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to menace, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 closed-door haunting premise that toys with the fear of a child’s wobbly impressions. Rating: forthcoming. Production: post-ready. Positioning: major-studio and toplined supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A comic send-up that pokes at modern genre fads and true-crime obsessions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family snared by long-buried horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground get redirected here up, with an center of gravity in survivalist horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 era-accurate language and elemental fear. Rating: forthcoming. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 and why now

Three execution-level forces define this lineup. First, production that slowed or reshuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 breakout 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. 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 flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats horror filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound, and imagery 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 Shapes Up Strong

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.