Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primordial evil, a nerve shredding shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This chilling ghostly fear-driven tale from dramatist / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an archaic horror when strangers become conduits in a diabolical trial. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish episode of continuance and forgotten curse that will revolutionize the fear genre this scare season. Crafted by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and atmospheric film follows five unacquainted souls who regain consciousness isolated in a wooded house under the oppressive dominion of Kyra, a cursed figure dominated by a 2,000-year-old holy text monster. Brace yourself to be hooked by a narrative presentation that intertwines raw fear with biblical origins, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a iconic trope in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is challenged when the monsters no longer manifest from a different plane, but rather from within. This suggests the most hidden shade of all involved. The result is a psychologically brutal inner struggle where the narrative becomes a perpetual struggle between virtue and vice.


In a unforgiving outland, five characters find themselves caught under the fiendish rule and spiritual invasion of a obscure spirit. As the companions becomes unresisting to withstand her control, cut off and chased by entities mind-shattering, they are compelled to wrestle with their core terrors while the doomsday meter relentlessly ticks toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety surges and alliances shatter, driving each cast member to challenge their core and the concept of conscious will itself. The stakes surge with every second, delivering a scare-fueled ride that blends unearthly horror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to tap into core terror, an evil that existed before mankind, manifesting in emotional vulnerability, and challenging a darkness that erodes the self when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra demanded embodying something past sanity. She is unseeing until the takeover begins, and that flip is soul-crushing because it is so raw.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving users everywhere can get immersed in this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original promo, which has garnered over 100,000 views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, offering the tale to international horror buffs.


Experience this unforgettable ride through nightmares. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to survive these chilling revelations about inner darkness.


For featurettes, extra content, and news from the creators, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s watershed moment: 2025 in focus domestic schedule integrates myth-forward possession, indie terrors, paired with legacy-brand quakes

Across survivor-centric dread grounded in biblical myth as well as canon extensions alongside keen independent perspectives, 2025 stands to become the genre’s most multifaceted paired with calculated campaign year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. major banners set cornerstones through proven series, simultaneously premium streamers front-load the fall with unboxed visions in concert with ancestral chills. In the indie lane, festival-forward creators is riding the echoes of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are calculated, which means 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: The Return of Prestige Fear

The top end is active. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal begins the calendar with a risk-forward move: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a clear present-tense world. Steered by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. Pictures releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, and eerie supernatural logic. This run ups the stakes, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, speaking to teens and older millennials. It books December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, 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. Absent a posted platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also rising is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and directed 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. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No overinflated mythology. No IP hangover. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

What to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror reemerges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

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

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The coming 2026 fright release year: entries, Originals, plus A busy Calendar tailored for chills

Dek The brand-new genre slate crowds at the outset with a January bottleneck, before it spreads through peak season, and well into the holidays, braiding series momentum, inventive spins, and calculated alternatives. Studios and streamers are embracing mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that frame horror entries into national conversation.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the predictable swing in studio slates, a genre that can grow when it clicks and still safeguard the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year re-taught leaders that lean-budget fright engines can lead cultural conversation, 2024 held pace with filmmaker-forward plays and under-the-radar smashes. The carry flowed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is appetite for different modes, from continued chapters to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The takeaway for 2026 is a run that reads highly synchronized across the market, with intentional bunching, a blend of household franchises and new concepts, and a tightened attention on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on PVOD and streaming.

Executives say the category now works like a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can bow on nearly any frame, yield a easy sell for teasers and TikTok spots, and outstrip with viewers that respond on previews Thursday and return through the sophomore frame if the picture pays off. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm reflects comfort in that playbook. The year gets underway with a front-loaded January stretch, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while reserving space for a fall run that reaches into spooky season and into November. The schedule also illustrates the expanded integration of specialized imprints and SVOD players that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and move wide at the proper time.

An added macro current is legacy care across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Big banners are not just producing another follow-up. They are aiming to frame connection with a premium feel, whether that is a logo package that suggests a recalibrated tone or a ensemble decision that bridges a next film to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the most anticipated originals are championing material texture, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That blend offers the 2026 slate a strong blend of known notes and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount establishes early momentum with two marquee entries that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a cross-generational handoff and a rootsy character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture points to a roots-evoking mode without covering again the last two entries’ family thread. Watch for a push rooted in iconic art, intro reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a summer counter-slot, this one will pursue mass reach through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever owns genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is straightforward, somber, and easily pitched: a grieving man installs an algorithmic mate that becomes a harmful mate. The date puts it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to renew creepy live activations and brief clips that mixes intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are sold as signature events, with a minimalist tease and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a raw, on-set effects led treatment can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror jolt that emphasizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is framing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both players and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can lift format premiums and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in minute detail and language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a bold stance this contact form in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that enhances both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video pairs licensed content with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival additions, confirming horror entries tight to release and making event-like launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a situational basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 track with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is tight: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday dates to widen. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception encourages. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By tilt, 2026 favors the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is known enough to generate pre-sales and early previews.

The last three-year set frame the logic. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not hamper a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses 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, permits marketing to thread films through character web and themes and to keep assets alive without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind 2026 horror point to a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that spotlights aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta inflection that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which lend themselves to expo activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel key. Look for trailers that elevate fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

From winter to holidays

January is loaded. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid larger brand plays. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

End of summer through fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can play the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s machine mate turns into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a warped 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 battle to survive on a uninhabited island as the hierarchy shifts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to horror, based on Cronin’s physical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting premise that twists the fright of a child’s mercurial perceptions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-built and toplined haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that riffs on present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a different family caught in residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-driven horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: closely held. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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: not yet rated. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces inform this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-slotted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, managed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where value-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a array, 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 gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, 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 prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound field, and visual design 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 Is Well Positioned

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