Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

An spine-tingling occult suspense film from storyteller / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an ancient horror when guests become proxies in a hellish trial. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking story of endurance and ancient evil that will revolutionize the fear genre this Halloween season. Directed by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and atmospheric story follows five people who are stirred sealed in a far-off house under the oppressive power of Kyra, a young woman haunted by a 2,000-year-old religious nightmare. Steel yourself to be hooked by a screen-based outing that unites soul-chilling terror with mystical narratives, premiering 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 enduring foundation in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is twisted when the beings no longer appear outside the characters, but rather within themselves. This portrays the most hidden aspect of all involved. The result is a gripping cognitive warzone where the events becomes a soul-crushing conflict between right and wrong.


In a isolated backcountry, five campers find themselves sealed under the possessive effect and overtake of a haunted being. As the ensemble becomes defenseless to evade her manipulation, severed and preyed upon by evils beyond comprehension, they are obligated to battle their greatest panics while the timeline without pity pushes forward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia swells and teams erode, prompting each soul to rethink their identity and the philosophy of independent thought itself. The hazard amplify with every tick, delivering a frightening tale that integrates ghostly evil with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to awaken basic terror, an darkness from prehistory, manipulating emotional vulnerability, and challenging a presence that tests the soul when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra demanded embodying something beyond human emotion. She is ignorant until the takeover begins, and that evolution is eerie because it is so raw.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—allowing viewers from coast to coast can get immersed in this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original clip, which has earned over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, delivering the story to viewers around the world.


Witness this soul-jarring exploration of dread. Explore *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to witness these spiritual awakenings about the human condition.


For teasers, on-set glimpses, and updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit the movie portal.





Today’s horror pivotal crossroads: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts interlaces Mythic Possession, indie terrors, paired with tentpole growls

Ranging from last-stand terror saturated with old testament echoes as well as returning series plus surgical indie voices, 2025 is tracking to be the most variegated plus carefully orchestrated year for the modern era.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses lay down anchors with known properties, in tandem SVOD players crowd the fall with discovery plays plus archetypal fear. Meanwhile, festival-forward creators is catching the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween stays the prime week, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal starts the year with a bold swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring 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. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and the tone that worked before is intact: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, and eerie supernatural logic. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The return delves further into myth, broadens the animatronic terror cast, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It arrives in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with 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. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Long Running Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI 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, from Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Laurels convert to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theaters are a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The approaching fear Year Ahead: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A stacked Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The emerging horror calendar packs in short order with a January glut, after that unfolds through summer corridors, and far into the holidays, fusing IP strength, creative pitches, and data-minded counterprogramming. Studios and platforms are embracing tight budgets, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that frame these releases into national conversation.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror has solidified as the sturdy move in distribution calendars, a segment that can expand when it connects and still cushion the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year proved to executives that modestly budgeted pictures can shape audience talk, 2024 held pace with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The trend pushed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and awards-minded projects showed there is a lane for a spectrum, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that travel well. The aggregate for 2026 is a grid that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a harmony of brand names and untested plays, and a reinvigorated priority on theatrical windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital rental and platforms.

Insiders argue the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the programming map. Horror can arrive on a wide range of weekends, create a grabby hook for creative and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with patrons that come out on early shows and hold through the next weekend if the feature pays off. Exiting a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 layout signals confidence in that approach. The calendar launches with a loaded January block, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a fall cadence that connects to late October and into early November. The gridline also highlights the increasing integration of specialty distributors and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and broaden at the inflection point.

An added macro current is series management across interlocking continuities and established properties. The players are not just turning out another sequel. They are looking to package lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a recalibrated tone or a casting move that threads a new entry to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the creative leads behind the eagerly awaited originals are prioritizing tactile craft, real effects and distinct locales. That convergence hands 2026 a smart balance of assurance and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a classic-referencing bent without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push built on brand visuals, first images of characters, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a summer relief option, this one will generate broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an virtual partner that becomes a dangerous lover. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with the marketing arm likely to reprise creepy live activations and bite-size content that interweaves devotion and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are set up as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor affords Universal to own 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 directs, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has long shown that a raw, practical-first strategy can feel premium on a middle budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is presenting as a ground-zero restart 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 focus to serve both devotees and general audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets 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 grounded in rigorous craft and historical speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a tiered path that fortifies both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with global acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, using featured rows, fright rows, and curated strips to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries tight to release and making event-like go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a staged of precision theatrical plays and accelerated platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown appetite to board select projects with established auteurs or star packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, retooled for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the October weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through select festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday frame to widen. That positioning has helped for craft-driven horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception warrants. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using small theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By number, 2026 skews toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use cultural cachet. The trade-off, as ever, is overexposure. The standing approach is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-driven titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the deal build is steady enough news to spark pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years announce the approach. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that observed windows did not deter a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was robust. In 2024, director-craft horror over-performed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reorient and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, enables marketing to tie installments through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued preference for tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that centers aura and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta-horror reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature design and production design, which match well with convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that work in PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. 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 somber counterpoint amid heavier IP. The month ends 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 tonal variety opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Q1 into Q2 prime the summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited advance reveals that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s AI companion becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: tone-first 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 tough boss battle to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic inverts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

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 renewed vision that returns the monster to nightmare, rooted in Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that threads the dread through a youth’s uneven inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A spoof revival that lampoons contemporary horror memes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 surges, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new household tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: continuing. 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 era-faithful speech and ancient menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or reshuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and accelerated schedules. 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on shareable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a buffet, 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundcraft, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand power where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.