Ancient Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, rolling out Oct 2025 on leading streamers

A haunting paranormal fear-driven tale from cinematographer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an archaic terror when outsiders become subjects in a hellish conflict. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving depiction of survival and archaic horror that will alter the fear genre this season. Created by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and atmospheric story follows five people who arise sealed in a wooded shelter under the hostile sway of Kyra, a cursed figure consumed by a millennia-old sacred-era entity. Steel yourself to be gripped by a screen-based venture that integrates deep-seated panic with ancestral stories, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a legendary pillar in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is twisted when the forces no longer manifest externally, but rather within themselves. This represents the shadowy version of each of them. The result is a relentless mental war where the suspense becomes a brutal contest between righteousness and malevolence.


In a forsaken wild, five souls find themselves contained under the unholy force and infestation of a obscure apparition. As the cast becomes defenseless to deny her command, stranded and stalked by entities inconceivable, they are forced to stand before their greatest panics while the countdown mercilessly counts down toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension builds and ties splinter, forcing each cast member to evaluate their identity and the idea of liberty itself. The cost accelerate with every instant, delivering a paranormal ride that merges demonic fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to channel primitive panic, an malevolence before modern man, embedding itself in inner turmoil, and confronting a presence that questions who we are when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was about accessing something far beyond human desperation. She is unseeing until the curse activates, and that transformation is shocking because it is so personal.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering audiences internationally can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has seen over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, extending the thrill to a worldwide audience.


Be sure to catch this life-altering fall into madness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to witness these haunting secrets about the human condition.


For film updates, filmmaker commentary, and alerts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit youngandcursed.com.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 across markets U.S. Slate Mixes biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with returning-series thunder

Kicking off with grit-forward survival fare saturated with scriptural legend and stretching into brand-name continuations alongside focused festival visions, 2025 looks like the most variegated along with tactically planned year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio powerhouses bookend the months with known properties, at the same time streaming platforms front-load the fall with new voices in concert with ancient terrors. In the indie lane, the independent cohort is carried on the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are methodical, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal leads off the quarter with an audacious swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving 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. Eli Craig directs including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. delivers the closing chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re teams, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma driven plotting, and eerie supernatural logic. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a smart play. No bloated mythology. No series drag. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Key Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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

SVOD originals harden up
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Big screen is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

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

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The oncoming fright lineup: next chapters, non-franchise titles, and also A hectic Calendar Built For shocks

Dek: The arriving genre season crowds early with a January cluster, subsequently runs through the mid-year, and deep into the holiday frame, marrying IP strength, novel approaches, and well-timed counterplay. Studio marketers and platforms are relying on mid-range economics, theatrical leads, and influencer-ready assets that transform genre releases into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror has established itself as the consistent release in studio calendars, a category that can lift when it connects and still safeguard the downside when it underperforms. After the 2023 year showed top brass that low-to-mid budget fright engines can galvanize the national conversation, 2024 kept energy high with director-led heat and under-the-radar smashes. The momentum rolled into 2025, where returns and critical darlings signaled there is an opening for multiple flavors, from series extensions to original one-offs that play globally. The takeaway for 2026 is a programming that appears tightly organized across studios, with obvious clusters, a balance of brand names and first-time concepts, and a re-energized priority on exclusive windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on PVOD and digital services.

Schedulers say the space now works like a plug-and-play option on the rollout map. Horror can arrive on nearly any frame, create a simple premise for marketing and short-form placements, and outpace with audiences that line up on first-look nights and return through the next pass if the feature works. Exiting a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 mapping telegraphs trust in that equation. The slate rolls out with a heavy January lineup, then targets spring into early summer for balance, while keeping space for a fall run that carries into holiday-adjacent weekends and into post-Halloween. The grid also includes the deeper integration of indie arms and platforms that can launch in limited release, ignite recommendations, and roll out at the inflection point.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across shared IP webs and established properties. Major shops are not just producing another chapter. They are shaping as threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that conveys a new tone or a star attachment that ties a new installment to a initial period. At the very same time, the creative teams behind the most anticipated originals are celebrating tactile craft, practical effects and distinct locales. That alloy yields the 2026 slate a confident blend of trust and surprise, which is the formula for international play.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount marks the early tempo with two spotlight pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the core, steering it as both a baton pass and a origin-leaning character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative stance indicates a heritage-honoring mode without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Count on a promo wave fueled by heritage visuals, intro reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will build general-audience talk through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick shifts to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three distinct strategies. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, tragic, and premise-first: a grieving man implements an digital partner that evolves into a harmful mate. The date slots it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s team likely to renew uncanny-valley stunts and short reels that blurs love and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a official title to become an earned moment closer to the first trailer. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s pictures are framed as signature events, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a blood-soaked, hands-on effects style can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio lines up two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is framing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build marketing units around universe detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus Features has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that optimizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video blends library titles with cross-border buys and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using editorial spots, spooky hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about original films and festival grabs, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and framing as events drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a two-step of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to pick up select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules 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 ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 sequence with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern mix and grade. 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 telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using select theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their community.

Balance of brands and originals

By share, 2026 leans in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is centering character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-tinted vision from a rising filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the configuration is anchored enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years make sense of the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not deter a day-date try from delivering when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror rose in PLF. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel new when they pivot perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, allows marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind this slate point to a continued turn toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that highlights unease and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster realization and design, which match well with convention floor stunts and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel must-have. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is busy. 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 foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month winds down 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 stiff, but the spread of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Early-year through spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion shifts into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss work to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power shifts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller 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 from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, built on Cronin’s material craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting narrative that explores the fear of a child’s fragile point of view. Rating: pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-supported and name-above-title eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned 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 flares, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further extends again, with a another family caught in residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on classic survival-horror tone over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: to be announced. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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-specific language and ancient menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: prepping toward a December weblink 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-sequenced in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, metered scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will line up 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 take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where lean-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 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound, and imagery 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.