Age-old Horror reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled thriller, premiering October 2025 across top digital platforms

This hair-raising spectral terror film from dramatist / director Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an primeval malevolence when drifters become tokens in a malevolent struggle. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful chronicle of living through and prehistoric entity that will alter horror this harvest season. Realized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and gothic thriller follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves isolated in a off-grid structure under the malignant sway of Kyra, a tormented girl haunted by a millennia-old ancient fiend. Ready yourself to be immersed by a audio-visual outing that unites raw fear with legendary tales, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a iconic motif in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is turned on its head when the presences no longer appear beyond the self, but rather from within. This mirrors the most sinister corner of these individuals. The result is a bone-chilling psychological battle where the story becomes a unforgiving struggle between right and wrong.


In a haunting natural abyss, five individuals find themselves contained under the evil effect and spiritual invasion of a haunted entity. As the victims becomes vulnerable to combat her command, severed and followed by terrors unimaginable, they are cornered to acknowledge their emotional phantoms while the clock without pause counts down toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and relationships fracture, coercing each character to question their identity and the idea of conscious will itself. The risk mount with every fleeting time, delivering a terror ride that marries supernatural terror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to draw upon primal fear, an power that existed before mankind, filtering through fragile psyche, and navigating a force that redefines identity when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant channeling something rooted in terror. She is blind until the takeover begins, and that turn is terrifying because it is so close.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing viewers internationally can be part of this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first preview, which has pulled in over strong viewer count.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, making the film to international horror buffs.


Tune in for this haunted descent into darkness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to uncover these unholy truths about the psyche.


For bonus footage, production news, and updates from those who lived it, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 American release plan blends old-world possession, independent shockers, together with legacy-brand quakes

Running from last-stand terror grounded in scriptural legend and onward to installment follow-ups set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 is emerging as the most textured plus tactically planned year for the modern era.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. major banners stabilize the year with known properties, concurrently OTT services flood the fall with fresh voices in concert with ancient terrors. At the same time, indie storytellers is catching the echoes of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween holding the peak, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Elevated fear reclaims ground

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

the Universal camp opens the year with a statement play: a reimagined Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. Steered by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. While the template is known, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Next is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. This pass pushes higher, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral led by 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 moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched 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. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. 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.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is canny scheduling. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

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.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

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. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Key Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror comes roaring back
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

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

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Autumn density and winter pivot

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new terror cycle: entries, universe starters, as well as A jammed Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek The emerging terror season packs early with a January wave, thereafter rolls through summer, and pushing into the festive period, blending marquee clout, original angles, and tactical counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are betting on efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that elevate these releases into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The genre has turned into the dependable play in studio calendars, a space that can spike when it catches and still cushion the floor when it misses. After 2023 signaled to buyers that disciplined-budget pictures can shape pop culture, the following year kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The head of steam fed into 2025, where revived properties and critical darlings showed there is a lane for a variety of tones, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that travel well. The takeaway for 2026 is a roster that seems notably aligned across the market, with defined corridors, a pairing of established brands and fresh ideas, and a refocused commitment on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital rental and digital services.

Planners observe the category now works like a wildcard on the grid. Horror can open on nearly any frame, yield a quick sell for trailers and social clips, and outpace with ticket buyers that respond on preview nights and maintain momentum through the next pass if the entry hits. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 setup demonstrates faith in that approach. The year launches with a stacked January window, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while reserving space for a fall cadence that carries into Halloween and past the holiday. The arrangement also includes the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and broaden at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is legacy care across brand ecosystems and classic IP. Major shops are not just mounting another entry. They are setting up lineage with a heightened moment, whether that is a title design that conveys a re-angled tone or a star attachment that anchors a latest entry to a foundational era. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the marquee originals are leaning into material texture, physical gags and vivid settings. That combination gives 2026 a smart balance of recognition and freshness, which is the formula for international play.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount opens strong with two spotlight titles that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a legacy handover and a return-to-roots character piece. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a roots-evoking treatment without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign fueled by classic imagery, initial cast looks, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a counterweight in summer, this one will drive wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever drives horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is straightforward, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that interweaves love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-October frame affords Universal to maximize 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has demonstrated that a tactile, practical-effects forward mix can feel high-value on a tight budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror shot that leans into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. More about the author An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is describing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around narrative world, and monster design, elements that can stoke PLF interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by meticulous craft and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that maximizes both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video pairs licensed content with worldwide entries and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using curated hubs, October hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival buys, dating horror entries near launch and framing as events premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a staged of selective theatrical runs and speedy platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a selective basis. The platform has indicated interest to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern audio-visual craft. 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 telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then using the December frame to open out. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-first horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception drives. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By skew, 2026 tips toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on marquee value. The concern, as ever, is fatigue. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is bringing forward relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the package is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Three-year comps frame the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a hybrid test from hitting when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror rose in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived my review here cycle of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they shift POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 back-to-back, permits marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to keep assets alive without long breaks.

Technique and craft currents

The production chatter behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued preference for tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that foregrounds texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which match well with con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Pre-summer months prime the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s synthetic partner turns into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss work to survive on a lonely island as the pecking order upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that mediates the fear via a young child’s shifting inner lens. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-scale and star-led eerie 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 satire sequel that teases in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family anchored to long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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: undetermined. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-slotted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate shareable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the target range. 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, smart allocations, 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, audio design, 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.