Age-old Dread Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising shocker, arriving October 2025 across top streamers

A unnerving spectral shockfest from scriptwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an forgotten terror when unknowns become vehicles in a supernatural ritual. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping journey of survival and timeless dread that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Created by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and shadowy cinema piece follows five characters who come to isolated in a remote hideaway under the unfriendly influence of Kyra, a female presence claimed by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Arm yourself to be ensnared by a filmic journey that merges gut-punch terror with legendary tales, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a classic element in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is radically shifted when the dark entities no longer manifest from beyond, but rather inside them. This echoes the deepest part of the cast. The result is a emotionally raw internal warfare where the conflict becomes a constant conflict between divinity and wickedness.


In a wilderness-stricken wild, five characters find themselves sealed under the ominous aura and domination of a unidentified entity. As the group becomes powerless to break her manipulation, severed and preyed upon by terrors beyond reason, they are made to face their inner horrors while the seconds harrowingly edges forward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia swells and teams fracture, demanding each member to reconsider their core and the philosophy of free will itself. The consequences escalate with every heartbeat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that marries paranormal dread with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to explore deep fear, an evil older than civilization itself, channeling itself through emotional fractures, and confronting a spirit that strips down our being when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra asked for exploring something unfamiliar to reason. She is in denial until the takeover begins, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so internal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for digital release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering fans in all regions can be part of this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its intro video, which has pulled in over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, exporting the fear to global fright lovers.


Do not miss this heart-stopping trip into the unknown. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to face these evil-rooted truths about the soul.


For film updates, behind-the-scenes content, and announcements from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across social media and visit the film’s website.





Modern horror’s major pivot: the year 2025 U.S. calendar integrates myth-forward possession, underground frights, together with series shake-ups

Running from life-or-death fear steeped in primordial scripture to returning series set beside surgical indie voices, 2025 stands to become the genre’s most multifaceted combined with tactically planned year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors hold down the year with franchise anchors, simultaneously streamers front-load the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus ancient terrors. On the festival side, independent banners is riding the momentum of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween stays the prime week, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are exacting, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a statement play: a reimagined Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. sets loose the finale from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: throwback unease, trauma foregrounded, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The stakes escalate here, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, stretches the animatronic parade, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

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. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled 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.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. 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 offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

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

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. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Dials to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Projection: Fall stack and winter swing card

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The forthcoming 2026 Horror cycle: continuations, non-franchise titles, together with A Crowded Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The current horror season builds at the outset with a January logjam, subsequently unfolds through the warm months, and deep into the winter holidays, combining brand equity, inventive spins, and calculated counterprogramming. The major players are prioritizing cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that position these films into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the steady release in distribution calendars, a lane that can surge when it lands and still protect the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 signaled to executives that mid-range scare machines can dominate audience talk, the following year maintained heat with festival-darling auteurs and stealth successes. The carry flowed into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and critical darlings demonstrated there is room for diverse approaches, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across the market, with clear date clusters, a mix of known properties and new concepts, and a refocused priority on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and digital services.

Planners observe the space now works like a versatile piece on the grid. The genre can debut on most weekends, provide a easy sell for teasers and short-form placements, and outstrip with viewers that show up on previews Thursday and hold through the subsequent weekend if the film hits. Coming out of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 pattern telegraphs trust in that dynamic. The year begins with a front-loaded January band, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while leaving room for a September to October window that pushes into the fright window and beyond. The calendar also shows the ongoing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and expand at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across shared IP webs and veteran brands. The players are not just making another return. They are looking to package connection with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that signals a refreshed voice or a casting choice that anchors a new entry to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the marquee originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That mix affords 2026 a vital pairing of brand comfort and invention, which is the formula for international play.

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

Paramount establishes early momentum with two spotlight pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance indicates a heritage-honoring mode without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push built on franchise iconography, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will foreground. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will drive large awareness through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick updates to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that grows into a fatal companion. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to recreate eerie street stunts and snackable content that melds companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title drop to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are marketed as auteur events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal to take 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, on-set effects led execution can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart 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 clearer mandate to serve both fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around world-building, and creature design, elements that can amplify format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror centered on textural authenticity and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is glowing.

Platform lanes and windowing

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre slate head to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both launch urgency and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video pairs library titles with cross-border buys and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library curation, using in-app campaigns, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival additions, locking in horror entries toward the drop and elevating as drops arrivals with surge campaigns. 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 genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has signaled readiness to board select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 corridor with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is no-nonsense: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a big-screen first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, curating the rollout through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to move out. That positioning has worked well for director-led genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception warrants. Plan on 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 hand in hand, using boutique theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By skew, 2026 tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is brand wear. The standing approach is to package each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is spotlighting character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the bundle is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not obstruct a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they pivot perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on 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 shot consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to interlace chapters through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The shop talk behind the 2026 slate signal a continued lean toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for textured sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead features and department features before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which are ideal for convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby More about the author and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is busy. 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 foggy reset amid larger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a transitional slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that put concept first.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s AI companion unfolds into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss struggle to survive on a isolated island as the power dynamic upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fear, anchored by Cronin’s in-camera craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting chiller that threads the dread through a preteen’s unreliable perspective. Rating: not yet rated. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that teases current genre trends and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new family linked to lingering terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in progress. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental fear. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or re-slotted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more structured 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 releases. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 value-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome 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 win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound field, and camera work 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

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand power where it counts, original 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.