Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This chilling ghostly terror film from literary architect / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primeval fear when passersby become tools in a dark ritual. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping chronicle of living through and mythic evil that will revamp genre cinema this cool-weather season. Visualized by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and cinematic thriller follows five lost souls who are stirred caught in a hidden cabin under the menacing influence of Kyra, a cursed figure occupied by a two-thousand-year-old biblical force. Brace yourself to be hooked by a big screen adventure that harmonizes instinctive fear with folklore, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a legendary tradition in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is redefined when the presences no longer develop from a different plane, but rather deep within. This echoes the shadowy layer of the cast. The result is a relentless inner struggle where the conflict becomes a brutal confrontation between light and darkness.


In a desolate terrain, five young people find themselves trapped under the unholy effect and control of a enigmatic spirit. As the ensemble becomes helpless to resist her manipulation, marooned and followed by spirits impossible to understand, they are forced to stand before their inner demons while the moments mercilessly draws closer toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust builds and links collapse, driving each cast member to question their values and the principle of personal agency itself. The danger mount with every fleeting time, delivering a terror ride that combines ghostly evil with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dive into raw dread, an force before modern man, working through soul-level flaws, and questioning a entity that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra called for internalizing something deeper than fear. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that metamorphosis is eerie because it is so personal.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing streamers anywhere can watch this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first trailer, which has gathered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, offering the tale to fans of fear everywhere.


Join this gripping descent into hell. Join *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to survive these evil-rooted truths about human nature.


For teasers, extra content, and updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across social media and visit youngandcursed.com.





Today’s horror inflection point: the 2025 season U.S. rollouts blends old-world possession, Indie Shockers, together with returning-series thunder

Running from life-or-death fear inspired by ancient scripture and extending to series comebacks together with acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered as well as tactically planned year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios are anchoring the year with established lines, in parallel SVOD players flood the fall with new perspectives plus scriptural shivers. In parallel, festival-forward creators is catching the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with a marquee bet: a refashioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Slated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer winds down, the Warner lot unveils the final movement from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 follows. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma explicitly handled, with ghostly inner logic. This pass pushes higher, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It drops in December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, a close quarters body horror study anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a smart play. No puffed out backstory. No brand fatigue. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror returns
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next terror season: returning titles, non-franchise titles, in tandem with A jammed Calendar optimized for frights

Dek The brand-new horror slate builds from day one with a January logjam, from there runs through the summer months, and deep into the holiday frame, marrying brand heft, original angles, and calculated counterweight. Studios and streamers are embracing smart costs, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that shape these pictures into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror has turned into the steady release in studio calendars, a space that can scale when it hits and still insulate the downside when it doesn’t. After 2023 demonstrated to top brass that modestly budgeted shockers can lead cultural conversation, 2024 maintained heat with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The tailwind rolled into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and premium-leaning entries made clear there is room for many shades, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The end result for the 2026 slate is a grid that shows rare alignment across the field, with planned clusters, a blend of recognizable IP and new packages, and a sharpened commitment on exhibition windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and home streaming.

Planners observe the horror lane now operates like a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can launch on most weekends, create a easy sell for teasers and reels, and exceed norms with fans that appear on first-look nights and keep coming through the second weekend if the feature fires. On the heels of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout demonstrates trust in that logic. The year rolls out with a busy January block, then uses spring and early summer for counterweight, while leaving room for a fall run that flows toward All Hallows period and into early November. The layout also features the deeper integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and move wide at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across shared universes and established properties. The players are not just rolling another return. They are moving to present threaded continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title treatment that signals a re-angled tone or a star attachment that connects a latest entry to a initial period. At the alongside this, the helmers behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing practical craft, practical gags and location-forward worlds. That interplay yields the 2026 slate a solid mix of brand comfort and invention, which is why the genre exports well.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate entries that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the front, presenting it as both a handoff and a origin-leaning character-first story. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the tonal posture indicates a nostalgia-forward strategy without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave driven by recognizable motifs, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 back together, 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 hunt broad awareness through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format permitting quick pivots to whatever drives horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is elegant, tragic, and premise-first: a grieving man implements an digital partner that escalates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to revisit uncanny live moments and snackable content that interweaves intimacy and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the initial promo. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are sold as auteur events, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, practical-effects forward execution can feel premium on a lean spend. Look for a splatter summer horror charge that leans into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is positioning 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 directive to serve both devotees and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive deluxe auditorium demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by immersive craft and dialect, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is glowing.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Digital strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that fortifies both debut momentum and subscriber lifts in the after-window. Prime Video blends outside acquisitions with global pickups and brief theater runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using seasonal hubs, fright rows, and editorial rows to increase tail value on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about own-slate titles and festival snaps, confirming horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops arrivals with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of focused cinema runs and short jumps to platform that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown a willingness to secure select projects with prestige directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 slate with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is simple: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, elevated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through select festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday frame to widen. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception merits. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Balance of brands and originals

By share, 2026 bends toward the franchise this website column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness name recognition. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a hot helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the configuration is steady enough to build pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Comps from the last three years clarify the model. In 2023, a theater-first model that observed windows did not stop a same-day experiment from performing when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror rose in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they shift POV and grow scope. 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 lensed back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The shop talk behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued turn toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes tone and tension rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead press and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that centers an original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is crowded. 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 larger brand plays. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the menu of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring stage summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that trade in concept over detail.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s AI companion grows into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: gothic-game 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 try to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power turns and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, weblink April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fright, shaped by Cronin’s practical effects and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting story that manipulates the chill of a child’s fragile perceptions. Rating: to be announced. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-scale and star-fronted paranormal 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 parody return that satirizes hot-button genre motifs and true crime fervors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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: to be announced. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan entangled with older hauntings. Rating: TBD. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survivalist horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: not yet rated. Production: ongoing. 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-faithful speech and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces drive this lineup. First, production that slowed or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, 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 landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where low-to-mid 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 maximize 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sonics, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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, cut sharp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.