Age-old Horror reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across major platforms

One chilling ghostly horror tale from scriptwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an forgotten nightmare when outsiders become pawns in a satanic struggle. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing depiction of survival and mythic evil that will remodel genre cinema this scare season. Realized by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and tone-heavy film follows five lost souls who are stirred locked in a secluded cottage under the sinister grip of Kyra, a central character possessed by a ancient Old Testament spirit. Arm yourself to be enthralled by a narrative venture that merges gut-punch terror with timeless legends, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a recurring trope in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is twisted when the demons no longer arise from a different plane, but rather inside them. This represents the deepest element of every character. The result is a psychologically brutal psychological battle where the tension becomes a perpetual struggle between moral forces.


In a abandoned wild, five teens find themselves imprisoned under the unholy aura and grasp of a haunted person. As the youths becomes unresisting to escape her power, detached and chased by forces indescribable, they are cornered to deal with their emotional phantoms while the timeline brutally winds toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion mounts and connections disintegrate, compelling each individual to rethink their existence and the notion of self-determination itself. The danger mount with every heartbeat, delivering a frightening tale that integrates paranormal dread with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to channel primitive panic, an force that predates humanity, manifesting in fragile psyche, and confronting a curse that questions who we are when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant channeling something past sanity. She is insensitive until the spirit seizes her, and that flip is haunting because it is so unshielded.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing customers in all regions can experience this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its intro video, which has garnered over strong viewer count.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable spiral into evil. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to dive into these ghostly lessons about the soul.


For exclusive trailers, production news, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across fan hubs and visit the film’s website.





The horror genre’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 stateside slate Mixes biblical-possession ideas, signature indie scares, plus IP aftershocks

Across survival horror suffused with mythic scripture and stretching into brand-name continuations set beside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is shaping up as the genre’s most multifaceted along with tactically planned year in a decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors lay down anchors with familiar IP, while premium streamers prime the fall with debut heat and archetypal fear. On the independent axis, horror’s indie wing is fueled by the carry of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are surgical, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with a big gambit: a refreshed Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer tapers, Warner’s schedule drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re engages, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: 70s style chill, trauma as text, with ghostly inner logic. The ante is higher this round, 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, broadens the animatronic terror cast, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, buttoning the final window.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With cinemas leaning into known IP, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is destined for a fall landing.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Conceived and directed 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. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed 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. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, 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 initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror returns
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Projection: Fall saturation and a winter joker

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The coming 2026 fright lineup: follow-ups, standalone ideas, as well as A brimming Calendar designed for shocks

Dek: The upcoming horror year loads right away with a January crush, subsequently stretches through midyear, and well into the holidays, weaving brand heft, creative pitches, and tactical counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are relying on smart costs, cinema-first plans, and viral-minded pushes that turn these offerings into national conversation.

Horror momentum into 2026

The genre has established itself as the predictable swing in distribution calendars, a category that can break out when it catches and still cushion the drag when it stumbles. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for top brass that efficiently budgeted chillers can shape pop culture, 2024 held pace with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The head of steam carried into 2025, where returns and prestige plays proved there is space for varied styles, from legacy continuations to non-IP projects that travel well. The sum for the 2026 slate is a schedule that appears tightly organized across the market, with obvious clusters, a combination of brand names and new concepts, and a sharpened strategy on exclusive windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital and platforms.

Buyers contend the horror lane now acts as a fill-in ace on the distribution slate. The genre can arrive on many corridors, create a easy sell for ad units and short-form placements, and overperform with fans that lean in on first-look nights and hold through the week two if the picture delivers. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm indicates belief in that model. The slate commences with a thick January corridor, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while reserving space for a late-year stretch that flows toward spooky season and afterwards. The layout also reflects the greater integration of specialized imprints and SVOD players that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and grow at the timely point.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across shared universes and long-running brands. Big banners are not just greenlighting another entry. They are trying to present continuity with a specialness, whether that is a typeface approach that announces a new vibe or a talent selection that binds a incoming chapter to a initial period. At the simultaneously, the auteurs behind the high-profile originals are returning to tactile craft, on-set effects and site-specific worlds. That alloy offers 2026 a robust balance of assurance and discovery, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece bets that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the core, steering it as both a legacy handover and a rootsy character-centered film. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture suggests a roots-evoking strategy without replaying the last two entries’ sibling arc. Expect a marketing push rooted in brand visuals, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will chase large awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format permitting quick pivots to whatever shapes the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is efficient, heartbroken, and logline-clear: a grieving man activates an virtual partner that evolves into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the marketing arm likely to revisit viral uncanny stunts and bite-size content that fuses love and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an PR pop closer to the first look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s work are framed as director events, with a teaser that reveals little and a later creative that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The spooky-season slot gives Universal room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has established that a in-your-face, in-camera leaning treatment can feel prestige on a controlled budget. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror rush that centers international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio mounts two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, holding a proven supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is positioning as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both players and new audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign pieces around environmental design, and monster design, elements that can accelerate deluxe auditorium demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by immersive craft and dialect, this time circling werewolf lore. The distributor has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. The Universal horror run land on copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a stair-step that maximizes both premiere heat and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video stitches together licensed content with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using timely promos, spooky hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix retains agility about Netflix films and festival deals, confirming horror entries closer to drop and making event-like launches with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of precision theatrical plays and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with award winners or celebrity-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two brand 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 audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a big-screen first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then using the December frame to broaden. That positioning has shown results for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception justifies. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

Brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use legacy awareness. The risk, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is recognizable enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps clarify the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not deter a parallel release from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, enables marketing to thread films through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long breaks.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind the 2026 slate great post to read forecast a continued preference for practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a first look that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and produces shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-aware reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature design and production design, which work nicely for fan-con activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel compelling. Look for trailers that underscore precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in big rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is full. 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 brooding contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month winds down 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 thick, but the range of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Pre-summer months load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s 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 divides the tones. 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 sensible. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited disclosures that prioritize concept over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can play the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a Young & Cursed new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s AI companion mutates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the hierarchy swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from More about the author a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting tale that plays with the fright of a child’s tricky read. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that skewers in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime manias. Rating: TBA. 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 detonates, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan anchored to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-core horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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-precise speech and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or reshuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and compressed 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 beat and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, acoustics, 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.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is franchise muscle where it helps, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.