Age-old Terror rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A eerie spiritual terror film from cinematographer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an mythic malevolence when strangers become instruments in a fiendish maze. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing portrayal of overcoming and primeval wickedness that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this season. Visualized by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and moody screenplay follows five teens who snap to confined in a hidden structure under the sinister influence of Kyra, a mysterious girl consumed by a timeless sacrosanct terror. Steel yourself to be seized by a theatrical venture that fuses deep-seated panic with ancestral stories, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a legendary fixture in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is subverted when the forces no longer manifest from elsewhere, but rather within themselves. This echoes the darkest element of the protagonists. The result is a intense spiritual tug-of-war where the story becomes a intense contest between heaven and hell.


In a bleak outland, five adults find themselves isolated under the evil force and possession of a secretive character. As the youths becomes paralyzed to evade her manipulation, abandoned and hunted by creatures impossible to understand, they are driven to reckon with their greatest panics while the hours mercilessly strikes toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia amplifies and ties break, demanding each survivor to rethink their self and the structure of conscious will itself. The pressure escalate with every minute, delivering a horror experience that weaves together occult fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to evoke primitive panic, an entity from ancient eras, embedding itself in emotional vulnerability, and exposing a darkness that questions who we are when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something beneath mortal despair. She is blind until the control shifts, and that change is harrowing because it is so emotional.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering customers from coast to coast can experience this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has seen over a viral response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, spreading the horror to thrill-seekers globally.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling trip into the unknown. Join *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these spiritual awakenings about mankind.


For bonus footage, making-of footage, and alerts from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across media channels and visit the official movie site.





Today’s horror decisive shift: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate integrates Mythic Possession, Indie Shockers, set against legacy-brand quakes

Beginning with survivor-centric dread suffused with legendary theology and stretching into legacy revivals set beside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered together with strategic year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. leading studios set cornerstones by way of signature titles, in tandem streamers prime the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as mythic dread. Meanwhile, horror’s indie wing is catching the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are disciplined, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

The top end is active. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with a headline swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, inside today’s landscape. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer winds down, Warner’s schedule bows the concluding entry from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retro dread, trauma as theme, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time the stakes climb, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, grows the animatronic horror lineup, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Plays: Small budgets, sharp fangs

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

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a two hander body horror spiral with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable with Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the 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 piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

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 is a smart play. No swollen lore. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The filler era wanes for platform horror. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming scare lineup: entries, fresh concepts, paired with A jammed Calendar Built For chills

Dek The new genre slate lines up immediately with a January crush, and then carries through the summer months, and running into the year-end corridor, combining brand equity, untold stories, and smart counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are embracing responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that shape genre titles into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has become the most reliable release in studio lineups, a pillar that can surge when it clicks and still cushion the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that mid-range horror vehicles can galvanize audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and sleeper breakouts. The trend translated to 2025, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is space for varied styles, from returning installments to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The combined impact for 2026 is a run that seems notably aligned across companies, with intentional bunching, a mix of recognizable IP and fresh ideas, and a reinvigorated strategy on cinema windows that feed downstream value on premium rental and digital services.

Executives say the genre now operates like a versatile piece on the rollout map. The genre can kick off on open real estate, yield a simple premise for spots and social clips, and punch above weight with viewers that line up on opening previews and stick through the follow-up frame if the release connects. Following a production delay era, the 2026 layout telegraphs comfort in that dynamic. The calendar commences with a stacked January run, then primes spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while clearing room for a fall run that runs into All Hallows period and past Halloween. The calendar also features the greater integration of indie distributors and home platforms that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and scale up at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is legacy care across unified worlds and legacy IP. Major shops are not just making another return. They are looking to package lore continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a recalibrated tone or a ensemble decision that ties a new entry to a foundational era. At the Check This Out concurrently, the auteurs behind the high-profile originals are returning to hands-on technique, practical gags and distinct locales. That pairing offers 2026 a vital pairing of brand comfort and surprise, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket entries that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, setting it up as both a handoff and a rootsy relationship-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a roots-evoking bent without recycling the last two entries’ sisters thread. Look for a marketing run rooted in legacy iconography, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that escalates into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit creepy live activations and micro spots that mixes attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an earned moment closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are presented as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven strategy can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Position this as a red-band summer horror surge that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both loyalists and novices. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign creative around lore, and monster aesthetics, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

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 follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by historical precision and dialect, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that enhances both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the after-window. Prime Video blends acquired titles with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library engagement, using prominent placements, fright rows, and curated strips to prolong the run on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival additions, dating horror entries toward the drop and elevating as drops arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a laddered of selective theatrical runs and prompt platform moves that translates talk to trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a per-project basis. The platform has proven amenable to board select projects with name filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 runway with two label plays. 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, updated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, piloting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday frame to open out. That positioning has paid off for director-led genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception warrants. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using limited theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, 2026 leans toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage fan equity. The concern, as ever, is staleness. The go-to fix is to pitch each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is bringing forward character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a Francophone tone from a fresh helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the assembly is anchored enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps announce the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was strong. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV and grow scope. 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 two-step approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind this slate forecast a continued lean toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta reframe that centers its original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which match well with con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. 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 quiet contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the range of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Q1 into Q2 load in summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a early fall window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a mystery-first teaser plan and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genes. 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 devastated man’s intelligent companion turns into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is 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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced 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 run into a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 tough boss work to survive on a rugged island as the control balance upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting scenario that filters its scares through a preteen’s shifting internal vantage. Rating: pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-crafted and headline-actor led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that teases contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a another family bound to older hauntings. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in classic survival-horror tone over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: continuing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 time-true diction and primal menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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

Why this year, why now

Three execution-level forces frame this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-sequenced in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 dumps. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, 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 reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sonics, and cinematography 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, Ready To Roar

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the scares sell the seats.