Primordial Horror Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

An frightening occult horror tale from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an age-old horror when passersby become tools in a devilish trial. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking episode of staying alive and timeless dread that will reimagine terror storytelling this fall. Visualized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and emotionally thick thriller follows five teens who regain consciousness sealed in a wooded dwelling under the dark grip of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a timeless biblical demon. Anticipate to be immersed by a visual display that melds gut-punch terror with mythic lore, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a long-standing motif in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is turned on its head when the beings no longer come outside their bodies, but rather from deep inside. This portrays the most terrifying layer of the group. The result is a psychologically brutal mind game where the narrative becomes a perpetual clash between heaven and hell.


In a desolate backcountry, five figures find themselves marooned under the ominous sway and possession of a unknown female presence. As the cast becomes vulnerable to withstand her power, severed and tormented by powers ungraspable, they are made to deal with their emotional phantoms while the seconds relentlessly moves toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety amplifies and partnerships shatter, demanding each member to doubt their personhood and the foundation of free will itself. The cost intensify with every instant, delivering a frightening tale that marries spiritual fright with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to channel primal fear, an threat born of forgotten ages, emerging via fragile psyche, and questioning a force that strips down our being when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra involved tapping into something past sanity. She is uninformed until the spirit seizes her, and that metamorphosis is haunting because it is so unshielded.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving subscribers internationally can survive this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its intro video, which has received over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, taking the terror to horror fans worldwide.


Be sure to catch this mind-warping spiral into evil. Stream *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to acknowledge these nightmarish insights about our species.


For director insights, production insights, and promotions directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursed across social media and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror tipping point: the 2025 cycle American release plan Mixes primeval-possession lore, underground frights, set against tentpole growls

Running from survival horror steeped in biblical myth through to canon extensions and keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into the most textured together with precision-timed year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Top studios plant stakes across the year with established lines, even as platform operators pack the fall with debut heat and ancient terrors. At the same time, the artisan tier is carried on the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, distinctly in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are methodical, so 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

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

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s pipeline fires the first shot with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell anchored by 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. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

By late summer, Warner Bros. Pictures unveils the final movement of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson returns to the helm, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma centered writing, with ghostly inner logic. This pass pushes higher, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, reaching teens and game grownups. It posts in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a close quarters body horror study anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale with Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and 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. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

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

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, led 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 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.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror retakes ground
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new terror cycle: continuations, new stories, and also A packed Calendar Built For screams

Dek: The new scare year builds at the outset with a January traffic jam, and then flows through the warm months, and well into the holiday stretch, balancing franchise firepower, untold stories, and savvy release strategy. The major players are leaning into smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that frame genre releases into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the predictable swing in release plans, a segment that can break out when it lands and still hedge the risk when it falls short. After the 2023 year signaled to buyers that disciplined-budget pictures can shape pop culture, 2024 kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and slow-burn breakouts. The energy flowed into the 2025 frame, where returns and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is a market for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a grid that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with obvious clusters, a pairing of brand names and new concepts, and a re-energized focus on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Schedulers say the horror lane now works like a wildcard on the rollout map. The genre can arrive on a wide range of weekends, furnish a grabby hook for creative and shorts, and punch above weight with viewers that arrive on preview nights and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the entry connects. Emerging from a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup indicates conviction in that equation. The year gets underway with a front-loaded January corridor, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while making space for a late-year stretch that extends to the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The arrangement also includes the increasing integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and scale up at the inflection point.

A notable top-line trend is brand management across unified worlds and classic IP. The players are not just pushing another next film. They are moving to present lore continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a reframed mood or a lead change that bridges a next film to a classic era. At the simultaneously, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are prioritizing practical craft, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That pairing provides 2026 a robust balance of assurance and freshness, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate plays that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture suggests a fan-service aware strategy without replaying the last two entries’ sibling arc. Expect a marketing push driven by franchise iconography, early character teases, and a staggered trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also revives 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 creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever rules the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is elegant, somber, and commercial: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that evolves into a lethal partner. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to reprise strange in-person beats and short reels that melds romance and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His entries are branded as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The pre-Halloween slot offers Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, physical-effects centered style can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror shock that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both franchise faithful and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around lore, and creature work, elements that can lift premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror built on immersive craft and historical speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is supportive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform windowing in 2026 run on tested paths. The Universal horror run shift to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that amplifies both FOMO and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video pairs licensed content with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using featured rows, October hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival acquisitions, slotting horror entries closer to drop and eventizing arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a staged of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots 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 activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to secure select projects with top-tier auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 arc with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a big-screen first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and movies Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using select theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their membership.

Legacy titles versus originals

By weight, 2026 favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to present each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is steady enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Three-year comps clarify the playbook. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date try from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they change perspective and elevate scope. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The shop talk behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued move toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores unease and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a first look that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature and environment design, which favor convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that spotlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the 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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid larger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Early-year through spring stage summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a bridge slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. my company Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Embedded title notes

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s digital partner mutates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 isolated island as the control balance shifts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to horror, shaped by Cronin’s practical effects and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 in-home haunting scenario that plays with the dread of a child’s wobbly impressions. Rating: TBD. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-built and celebrity-led 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 needles present-day genre chatter and true-crime manias. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled 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 breaks out, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan bound to residual nightmares. Rating: undetermined. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 period language and ancient menace. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate turnkey scare beats from test screenings, precision scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, freeing space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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-hit hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-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 quiet 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient screen counts, 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 dimensionality, sound field, and cinematography 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 Shapes Up Strong

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is franchise muscle where it helps, fresh vision where it counts, 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, craft precise trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the frights sell the seats.