Antediluvian Horror Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, bowing October 2025 across major streaming services

A terrifying spiritual suspense film from scriptwriter / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an forgotten dread when drifters become instruments in a fiendish ordeal. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing narrative of survival and primeval wickedness that will revolutionize scare flicks this season. Produced by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and moody fearfest follows five unacquainted souls who snap to trapped in a far-off dwelling under the sinister sway of Kyra, a possessed female overtaken by a time-worn holy text monster. Arm yourself to be captivated by a narrative outing that blends visceral dread with ancestral stories, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a legendary fixture in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is challenged when the presences no longer develop from beyond, but rather inside their minds. This represents the shadowy shade of the cast. The result is a gripping inner struggle where the tension becomes a constant fight between divinity and wickedness.


In a bleak natural abyss, five campers find themselves trapped under the malicious force and infestation of a mysterious being. As the youths becomes powerless to withstand her power, detached and attacked by evils impossible to understand, they are required to confront their core terrors while the seconds coldly moves toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia escalates and alliances implode, driving each protagonist to reflect on their self and the idea of free will itself. The consequences rise with every breath, delivering a chilling narrative that intertwines supernatural terror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to channel basic terror, an curse that existed before mankind, manipulating mental cracks, and questioning a will that redefines identity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra called for internalizing something beyond human emotion. She is blind until the evil takes hold, and that conversion is harrowing because it is so close.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing viewers no matter where they are can survive this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first preview, which has earned over a viral response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, taking the terror to a global viewership.


Experience this heart-stopping voyage through terror. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to uncover these ghostly lessons about the psyche.


For behind-the-scenes access, director cuts, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YACMovie across your socials and visit the movie’s homepage.





Horror’s decisive shift: 2025 for genre fans stateside slate Mixes myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, paired with franchise surges

Kicking off with grit-forward survival fare suffused with primordial scripture and onward to canon extensions plus incisive indie visions, 2025 is coalescing into horror’s most layered in tandem with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Top studios stabilize the year with established lines, while digital services crowd the fall with fresh voices plus legend-coded dread. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is drafting behind the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, accordingly 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the base, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures starts the year with a confident swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in an immediate now. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Directed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, the WB camp launches the swan song from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: nostalgic menace, trauma in the foreground, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time, the stakes are raised, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, broadens the animatronic terror cast, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale starring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It reads as sharp positioning. No overstuffed canon. No sequel clutter. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They are more runway than museum.

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

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

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

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

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 forthcoming 2026 chiller slate: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, plus A Crowded Calendar Built For Scares

Dek The upcoming genre season crowds up front with a January bottleneck, subsequently spreads through June and July, and continuing into the late-year period, fusing series momentum, creative pitches, and data-minded counterweight. Studios and platforms are focusing on mid-range economics, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that convert these films into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has grown into the most reliable option in studio calendars, a genre that can break out when it performs and still protect the liability when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year signaled to executives that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can own cultural conversation, the following year extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and quiet over-performers. The energy translated to the 2025 frame, where resurrections and arthouse crossovers demonstrated there is appetite for a spectrum, from sequel tracks to one-and-done originals that perform internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a programming that presents tight coordination across players, with defined corridors, a blend of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a reinvigorated strategy on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the genre now operates like a swing piece on the programming map. Horror can kick off on nearly any frame, supply a easy sell for teasers and short-form placements, and overperform with ticket buyers that turn out on Thursday previews and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the picture works. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern indicates trust in that logic. The year opens with a busy January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while carving room for a October build that reaches into the fright window and into early November. The map also features the deeper integration of specialty distributors and subscription services that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and broaden at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and established properties. Studios are not just rolling another follow-up. They are moving to present connection with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a tonal shift or a casting choice that anchors a upcoming film to a first wave. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are celebrating hands-on technique, on-set effects and location-forward worlds. That mix offers 2026 a smart balance of home base and novelty, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount fires first with two centerpiece releases that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a foundation-forward character-first story. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a fan-service aware angle without looping the last two entries’ family thread. Watch for a push leaning on classic imagery, first images of characters, and a two-beat trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will double down on. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever shapes the discourse that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is elegant, tragic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that turns into a harmful mate. The date places it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to reprise viral uncanny stunts and short reels that melds intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title drop to become an attention spike closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His entries are positioned as creative events, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-month date affords Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a gritty, hands-on effects approach can feel elevated on a moderate cost. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror jolt that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio places two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is billing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both devotees and casuals. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around mythos, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by historical precision and archaic language, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is robust.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on established tracks. The Universal horror run land on copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that maximizes both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video blends library titles with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on aggregate take. Netflix stays opportunistic about internal projects and festival additions, locking in horror entries on shorter runways and making event-like arrivals with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a laddered of tailored theatrical exposure and quick platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to buy select projects with prestige directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, upgraded for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the year-end corridor to move out. That positioning has helped for craft-driven horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but navigate here their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception merits. Anticipate 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 in tandem, using targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate bends toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is fatigue. The preferred tactic is to pitch each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a Francophone tone from a hot helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the package is recognizable enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Recent-year comps contextualize the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not stop a dual release from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they rotate perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to keep assets alive without long gaps.

Creative tendencies and craft

The director conversations behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that leans on aura and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in feature stories and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and produces shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-aware reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature craft and set design, which fit with fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that emphasize surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

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 somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month closes 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 credible, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late winter and spring set up the summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards 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 thrived. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited disclosures that put concept first.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner mutates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone useful reference 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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: aura-driven 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 demanding boss claw to survive on a uninhabited island as the control dynamic inverts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the useful reference monster to nightmare, rooted in Cronin’s on-set craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 domestic haunting chiller that twists the horror of a child’s fragile perceptions. Rating: forthcoming. Production: picture-locked. 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 reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that lampoons contemporary horror memes and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked for 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 detonates, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further reopens, with a young family snared by older hauntings. Rating: TBD. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: undetermined. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: pending. Production: active. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and ancient menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and tighter schedules. 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will stack across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The breakout hunt 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, acoustics, and image-making 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 Promising 2026

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.