Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons primeval malevolence, a spine tingling feature, launching October 2025 across major platforms

One hair-raising otherworldly thriller from screenwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an long-buried terror when foreigners become tokens in a cursed struggle. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving chronicle of endurance and timeless dread that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this Halloween season. Visualized by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and immersive film follows five lost souls who suddenly rise trapped in a isolated structure under the menacing dominion of Kyra, a possessed female controlled by a time-worn biblical demon. Ready yourself to be seized by a motion picture ride that melds primitive horror with biblical origins, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a legendary tradition in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is subverted when the forces no longer come from beyond, but rather from deep inside. This illustrates the most sinister version of all involved. The result is a enthralling mind game where the story becomes a unforgiving contest between righteousness and malevolence.


In a isolated landscape, five figures find themselves sealed under the malevolent sway and domination of a unknown figure. As the group becomes paralyzed to evade her manipulation, detached and followed by forces ungraspable, they are pushed to confront their inner horrors while the countdown relentlessly edges forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear surges and ties crack, forcing each protagonist to contemplate their identity and the notion of independent thought itself. The stakes rise with every tick, delivering a cinematic nightmare that merges otherworldly suspense with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to evoke raw dread, an force that predates humanity, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and exposing a spirit that erodes the self when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant evoking something outside normal anguish. She is clueless until the possession kicks in, and that shift is soul-crushing because it is so raw.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that users everywhere can enjoy this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first trailer, which has seen over strong viewer count.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, presenting the nightmare to scare fans abroad.


Experience this gripping trip into the unknown. Face *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to uncover these ghostly lessons about the mind.


For teasers, extra content, and announcements from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar braids together old-world possession, signature indie scares, plus legacy-brand quakes

Across life-or-death fear rooted in legendary theology and extending to returning series together with surgical indie voices, 2025 looks like the richest in tandem with carefully orchestrated year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors are anchoring the year through proven series, in tandem streaming platforms load up the fall with discovery plays set against ancestral chills. At the same time, the art-house flank is surfing the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, thus 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium dread reemerges

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s schedule kicks off the frame with a risk-forward move: a modernized Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. arriving mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline delivers the closing chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma in the foreground, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The follow up digs further into canon, stretches the animatronic parade, speaking to teens and older millennials. It hits in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Digital Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story led by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy IP: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

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

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Trend Lines

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror swings back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

The Road Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 spook lineup: installments, fresh concepts, paired with A jammed Calendar designed for chills

Dek The arriving terror slate stacks early with a January bottleneck, and then carries through peak season, and deep into the holiday frame, braiding IP strength, new voices, and shrewd counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are betting on mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and viral-minded pushes that elevate these pictures into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has emerged as the steady release in programming grids, a corner that can break out when it connects and still mitigate the losses when it fails to connect. After 2023 signaled to top brass that mid-range scare machines can drive the discourse, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and surprise hits. The energy carried into 2025, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects confirmed there is a market for several lanes, from returning installments to original one-offs that scale internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the field, with clear date clusters, a spread of known properties and first-time concepts, and a revived commitment on big-screen windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium rental and digital services.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now slots in as a wildcard on the grid. The genre can debut on almost any weekend, supply a clean hook for creative and UGC-friendly snippets, and over-index with crowds that come out on advance nights and return through the next weekend if the release pays off. On the heels of a production delay era, the 2026 cadence demonstrates belief in that engine. The slate opens with a heavy January band, then plants flags in spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while keeping space for a late-year stretch that pushes into spooky season and into post-Halloween. The calendar also includes the continuing integration of indie distributors and subscription services that can build gradually, grow buzz, and broaden at the precise moment.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across interlocking continuities and established properties. The companies are not just releasing another follow-up. They are looking to package ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a graphic identity that conveys a tonal shift or a ensemble decision that ties a next film to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing check over here real-world builds, physical gags and specific settings. That fusion produces 2026 a confident blend of comfort and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount opens strong with two prominent titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode character-first story. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a heritage-honoring approach without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Count on a promo wave centered on classic imagery, character previews, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also dusts off 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 headline the campaign will feature. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever defines the social talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct entries. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is efficient, sorrow-tinged, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that shifts into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that blurs romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a official title to become an marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His entries are branded as director events, with a minimalist tease and a second trailer wave that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to maximize 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, practical-effects forward mix can feel cinematic on a efficient spend. Expect a hard-R summer horror hit that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio mounts two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a steady supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is marketing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot provides the studio time to build artifacts around universe detail, and monster design, elements that can increase format premiums and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is favorable.

Platform lanes and windowing

Windowing plans in 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run shift to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that elevates both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the back half. Prime Video blends acquired titles with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and curated rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix originals and festival acquisitions, timing horror entries tight to release and framing as events releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a tiered of precision theatrical plays and accelerated platforming that translates talk to trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 track with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, upgraded for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to go wider. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception prompts. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using boutique theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Brands and originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the brand-heavy side. 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 workable fix is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is bringing forward character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French sensibility from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the packaging is recognizable enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years frame the playbook. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that honored streaming windows did not preclude a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, auteur craft horror surged in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 lensed sequentially, allows marketing to thread films through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without dead zones.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror point to a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that underscores unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-correct language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell 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 worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta reframe that centers its original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature execution and sets, which align with fan conventions and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that play in premium auditoriums.

Annual flow

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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the tonal variety lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Back half into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-October slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s artificial companion unfolds into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot 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 confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: mood-led 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 claw to survive on a desolate island as the chain of command turns and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, founded on Cronin’s practical craft and encroaching 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 closed-door haunting scenario that leverages the horror of a child’s inconsistent interpretations. Rating: TBA. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody return that needles hot-button genre motifs and true-crime buzz. Rating: pending. Production: cameras due to roll 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 surges, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new family bound to lingering terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. 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 antique diction and raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 lands now

Three grounded forces organize this lineup. First, production that paused or migrated in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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

The surprise-hit pursuit 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 capitalize on those pockets. 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand power where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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, shape lean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.