Age-old Dread Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling shocker, landing October 2025 across top digital platforms

This unnerving occult thriller from literary architect / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primordial horror when drifters become puppets in a fiendish struggle. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing tale of continuance and primordial malevolence that will resculpt horror this harvest season. Produced by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and cinematic tale follows five unknowns who arise isolated in a hidden shelter under the dark grip of Kyra, a troubled woman dominated by a time-worn holy text monster. Get ready to be shaken by a immersive event that unites bodily fright with spiritual backstory, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a historical theme in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is radically shifted when the fiends no longer develop from elsewhere, but rather from deep inside. This portrays the most terrifying dimension of the cast. The result is a riveting internal warfare where the plotline becomes a unyielding struggle between good and evil.


In a bleak forest, five adults find themselves marooned under the possessive effect and infestation of a obscure female presence. As the survivors becomes incapable to evade her grasp, left alone and targeted by beings ungraspable, they are pushed to stand before their deepest fears while the clock without pause runs out toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread intensifies and alliances erode, demanding each soul to rethink their true nature and the idea of freedom of choice itself. The hazard grow with every second, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that merges mystical fear with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to extract instinctual horror, an malevolence older than civilization itself, embedding itself in inner turmoil, and exposing a power that questions who we are when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra called for internalizing something beyond human emotion. She is uninformed until the control shifts, and that change is emotionally raw because it is so internal.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving streamers internationally can dive into this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its initial teaser, which has garnered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, bringing the film to scare fans abroad.


Make sure to see this mind-warping trip into the unknown. Confront *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to witness these spiritual awakenings about free will.


For bonus footage, on-set glimpses, and announcements via the production team, follow @YACMovie across entertainment pages and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror Turning Point: 2025 in focus U.S. lineup interlaces Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, plus legacy-brand quakes

Kicking off with last-stand terror rooted in primordial scripture and stretching into installment follow-ups and keen independent perspectives, 2025 is lining up as the genre’s most multifaceted paired with precision-timed year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. the big studios stabilize the year with franchise anchors, simultaneously streaming platforms prime the fall with discovery plays together with mythic dread. In the indie lane, horror’s indie wing is carried on the afterglow of 2024’s record festival wave. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are intentional, thus 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal Pictures lights the fuse with a big gambit: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. set for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Under Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. Pictures sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: nostalgic menace, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

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 Underneath: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

What to Watch

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming scare calendar year ahead: returning titles, universe starters, And A hectic Calendar geared toward chills

Dek The upcoming scare year crowds early with a January logjam, before it flows through the summer months, and continuing into the winter holidays, balancing name recognition, new voices, and strategic counterplay. Studios and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and buzz-forward plans that position these offerings into cross-demo moments.

How the genre looks for 2026

This category has turned into the bankable move in release plans, a segment that can break out when it lands and still hedge the risk when it misses. After the 2023 year demonstrated to strategy teams that low-to-mid budget scare machines can dominate the national conversation, the following year sustained momentum with visionary-driven titles and quiet over-performers. The energy flowed into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and festival-grade titles underscored there is space for a spectrum, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across the industry, with strategic blocks, a balance of marquee IP and new concepts, and a re-energized attention on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and subscription services.

Buyers contend the category now performs as a flex slot on the calendar. The genre can launch on numerous frames, create a clear pitch for previews and social clips, and over-index with audiences that appear on previews Thursday and sustain through the week two if the feature pays off. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping indicates conviction in that approach. The calendar kicks off with a loaded January run, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a fall run that carries into the Halloween corridor and into early November. The map also spotlights the stronger partnership of arthouse labels and platforms that can platform and widen, build word of mouth, and roll out at the sweet spot.

An added macro current is franchise tending across unified worlds and long-running brands. Studios are not just making another next film. They are setting up continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a reframed mood or a cast configuration that bridges a next entry to a initial period. At the concurrently, the creative teams behind the marquee originals are championing tactile craft, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That alloy affords 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and unexpected turns, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, marketing it as both a lineage transfer and a return-to-roots character-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a nostalgia-forward strategy without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push built on classic imagery, character previews, and a trailer cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format inviting quick pivots to whatever owns the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate projects. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is straightforward, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that escalates into a harmful mate. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to recreate creepy live activations and micro spots that blurs attachment and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title drop to become an attention spike closer to the initial promo. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His projects are treated as signature events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-month date opens a lane to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a gritty, practical-effects forward strategy can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror jolt that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is selling as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around lore, and creature work, elements that can lift large-format demand and convention buzz.

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 follows Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in minute detail and language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal titles land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that boosts both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines catalogue additions with international acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to extend momentum on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and making event-like go-lives with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to board select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 track with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is direct: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, modernized for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for prestige horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception justifies. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By number, 2026 is weighted toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The concern, as ever, is staleness. The near-term solution is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps contextualize the logic. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept streaming intact did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, director-craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone this content Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to thread films through character and theme and to hold creative in the market without dead zones.

Technique and craft currents

The craft rooms behind this slate forecast a continued preference for practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on creep and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and earns shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature design and production design, which play well in expo activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is busy. Universal’s 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 quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. 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 credible, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s AI companion turns into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 prickly boss push to survive on a desolate island as the control balance reverses and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s practical effects and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting premise that explores the fright of a child’s fragile read. Rating: not yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: major-studio and celebrity-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that lampoons today’s horror trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: to be announced. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. 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 ignites, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new family lashed to old terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival horror over Check This Out action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: active. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 historical diction and elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why this year, why now

Three hands-on forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming launches. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will cluster across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of 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 fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 surprise-hit pursuit 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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 cadence and diversity. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, soundscape, and visuals 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 Is Well Positioned

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand equity where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.