Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a hair raising horror feature, bowing October 2025 on top streamers

An frightening mystic nightmare movie from screenwriter / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an primordial curse when passersby become tools in a devilish game. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful saga of staying alive and ancient evil that will reconstruct scare flicks this scare season. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and gothic tale follows five teens who wake up confined in a secluded cottage under the unfriendly command of Kyra, a tormented girl claimed by a antiquated religious nightmare. Steel yourself to be ensnared by a visual presentation that combines deep-seated panic with folklore, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a classic narrative in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is subverted when the demons no longer develop externally, but rather from their psyche. This suggests the most hidden dimension of every character. The result is a edge-of-seat emotional conflict where the plotline becomes a soul-crushing push-pull between light and darkness.


In a forsaken natural abyss, five adults find themselves contained under the ominous sway and grasp of a uncanny being. As the group becomes incapable to escape her rule, abandoned and hunted by creatures ungraspable, they are driven to face their darkest emotions while the time coldly ticks toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear rises and teams break, pressuring each survivor to rethink their personhood and the idea of self-determination itself. The consequences rise with every tick, delivering a terror ride that combines otherworldly panic with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to awaken pure dread, an power beyond time, channeling itself through soul-level flaws, and navigating a power that dismantles free will when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was about accessing something unfamiliar to reason. She is unaware until the takeover begins, and that transformation is eerie because it is so personal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring streamers in all regions can experience this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its initial teaser, which has been viewed over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, taking the terror to a worldwide audience.


Be sure to catch this gripping fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to experience these nightmarish insights about human nature.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and press updates from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 for genre fans U.S. lineup Mixes biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, together with IP aftershocks

Spanning survivor-centric dread inspired by mythic scripture and onward to legacy revivals as well as focused festival visions, 2025 stands to become the most complex together with deliberate year for the modern era.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors bookend the months with known properties, simultaneously premium streamers stack the fall with new perspectives and legend-coded dread. Meanwhile, the art-house flank is catching the uplift of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the other windows are mapped with care. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: High-craft horror returns

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate kicks off the frame with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. landing in mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. This pass pushes higher, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, reaching teens and game grownups. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overinflated mythology. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic currents go mainstream
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 surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

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

SVOD originals harden up
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The approaching scare slate: entries, Originals, And A stacked Calendar calibrated for jolts

Dek: The emerging genre cycle loads early with a January logjam, before it unfolds through summer, and carrying into the holidays, braiding name recognition, inventive spins, and data-minded alternatives. The major players are betting on responsible budgets, theatrical leads, and buzz-forward plans that shape the slate’s entries into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has proven to be the bankable play in distribution calendars, a segment that can scale when it performs and still cushion the exposure when it does not. After 2023 reassured leaders that responsibly budgeted scare machines can shape the discourse, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The trend moved into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers proved there is a lane for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to standalone ideas that export nicely. The end result for 2026 is a roster that looks unusually coordinated across players, with purposeful groupings, a mix of known properties and novel angles, and a recommitted attention on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on premium digital and platforms.

Buyers contend the horror lane now acts as a wildcard on the rollout map. Horror can bow on most weekends, supply a tight logline for teasers and reels, and punch above weight with crowds that arrive on Thursday nights and keep coming through the follow-up frame if the movie pays off. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 cadence signals comfort in that engine. The slate commences with a stacked January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a September to October window that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and into November. The map also underscores the deeper integration of indie distributors and digital platforms that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and scale up at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across ongoing universes and veteran brands. Distribution groups are not just mounting another continuation. They are trying to present lineage with a specialness, whether that is a graphic identity that suggests a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that ties a latest entry to a initial period. At the concurrently, the creative teams behind the top original plays are favoring hands-on technique, practical effects and concrete locations. That mix gives 2026 a healthy mix of known notes and novelty, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent bets 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 heart, steering it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character-centered film. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach announces a throwback-friendly treatment without covering again the last two entries’ family thread. A campaign is expected stacked with recognizable motifs, intro reveals, and a trailer cadence timed to 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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will foreground. As a counterweight in summer, this one will drive mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format fitting quick turns to whatever owns genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is clean, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man installs an digital partner that unfolds into a lethal partner. The date positions it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and brief clips that hybridizes affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a public title to become an PR pop closer to the first trailer. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His entries are marketed as marquee events, with a opaque teaser and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gnarly, physical-effects centered treatment can feel cinematic on a controlled budget. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror shock that maximizes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio books two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, continuing a steady supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is framing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both core fans and curious audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around setting detail, and creature design, elements that can increase premium format interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by rigorous craft and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. The company has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre entries window into copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a cadence that enhances both first-week urgency and sign-up spikes in the late-window. Prime Video combines library titles with worldwide buys and limited runs in theaters when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog discovery, using seasonal hubs, genre hubs, and staff picks to stretch the tail on the horror cume. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix films and festival pickups, scheduling horror entries closer to launch and elevating as drops rollouts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of limited theatrical footprints and speedy platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown appetite to secure select projects with prestige directors or celebrity-led packages, have a peek here then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for platform stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 lane with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is tight: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, elevated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to move out. That positioning has paid off for director-led genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception allows. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using select theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By share, the 2026 slate leans toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit name recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The go-to fix is to brand each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-flavored turn from a rising filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the team and cast is assuring enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Recent comps clarify the model. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not obstruct a dual release from winning when the brand was big. In 2024, auteur craft horror hit big in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they pivot perspective and grow scope. 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 consecutively, lets marketing to thread films through relationships and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft rooms behind this year’s genre telegraph a continued move toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that foregrounds aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a first look that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which play well in convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

How the year maps out

January is packed. 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 atmospheric change-up amid headline IP. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the variety of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring build the summer base. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a slow-reveal plan and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s essence. 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 lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

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 collide with a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the hierarchy reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s hands-on craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting tale that leverages the unease of a child’s uncertain perceptions. Rating: to be announced. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody return that riffs on present-day genre chatter and true crime fervors. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family linked to ancient dread. Rating: TBD. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A restart designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on pure survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: forthcoming. Production: underway. 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 era-accurate language and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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

Why the moment is 2026

Three workable forces define this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shifted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming landings. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest have a peek here clippable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will cluster across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where modest-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 shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, 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 flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, 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, soundcraft, and picture 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 Looks Exciting

Timing Young & Cursed shifts. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand equity where it matters, new vision where it lands, 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, shape lean trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.