Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A haunting ghostly thriller from scriptwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial malevolence when drifters become pawns in a fiendish maze. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching story of living through and prehistoric entity that will reshape terror storytelling this scare season. Directed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and emotionally thick story follows five unknowns who awaken ensnared in a hidden lodge under the oppressive power of Kyra, a haunted figure consumed by a time-worn biblical demon. Be prepared to be ensnared by a visual adventure that intertwines bone-deep fear with arcane tradition, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a legendary tradition in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is twisted when the dark entities no longer come externally, but rather from their core. This suggests the most primal dimension of the victims. The result is a intense psychological battle where the plotline becomes a brutal contest between moral forces.


In a desolate wild, five teens find themselves confined under the sinister influence and possession of a mysterious entity. As the youths becomes powerless to resist her command, isolated and hunted by presences unimaginable, they are compelled to acknowledge their soulful dreads while the clock without pity pushes forward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety intensifies and alliances fracture, driving each figure to reconsider their existence and the integrity of volition itself. The consequences amplify with every passing moment, delivering a chilling narrative that harmonizes occult fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to awaken raw dread, an darkness from ancient eras, operating within inner turmoil, and navigating a curse that dismantles free will when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra was about accessing something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that shift is shocking because it is so unshielded.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing households internationally can experience this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first preview, which has collected over strong viewer count.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, offering the tale to international horror buffs.


Avoid skipping this unforgettable exploration of dread. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to survive these nightmarish insights about mankind.


For cast commentary, special features, and social posts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across entertainment pages and visit the official movie site.





Horror’s pivotal crossroads: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup integrates ancient-possession motifs, art-house nightmares, paired with series shake-ups

Spanning life-or-death fear infused with near-Eastern lore through to franchise returns as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 appears poised to be the richest as well as precision-timed year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios are anchoring the year via recognizable brands, while premium streamers front-load the fall with discovery plays set against primordial unease. In parallel, independent banners is surfing the afterglow from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween holding the peak, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are disciplined, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with a risk-forward move: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, inside today’s landscape. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures unveils the final movement from its cornerstone horror IP: 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, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re engages, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma in the foreground, and eerie supernatural logic. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, speaking to teens and older millennials. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Slim budgets, major punch

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. 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.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No bloated canon. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Long Running Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Signals and Trends

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror reemerges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Projection: 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 like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The forthcoming 2026 scare calendar year ahead: continuations, Originals, as well as A packed Calendar geared toward nightmares

Dek: The upcoming horror year loads right away with a January crush, thereafter runs through the summer months, and continuing into the festive period, braiding brand heft, fresh ideas, and shrewd counterplay. Distributors with platforms are leaning into lean spends, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that turn genre titles into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has emerged as the most reliable counterweight in studio calendars, a segment that can grow when it clicks and still buffer the downside when it under-delivers. After 2023 reconfirmed for decision-makers that modestly budgeted chillers can dominate audience talk, the following year kept energy high with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The energy fed into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is capacity for many shades, from brand follow-ups to original features that scale internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that appears tightly organized across players, with intentional bunching, a combination of household franchises and new packages, and a renewed strategy on theatrical windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and home streaming.

Planners observe the horror lane now serves as a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can launch on open real estate, furnish a clear pitch for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and overperform with ticket buyers that turn out on first-look nights and stick through the week two if the offering works. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 plan shows belief in that logic. The slate opens with a front-loaded January run, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while carving room for a late-year stretch that stretches into late October and into post-Halloween. The map also highlights the increasing integration of indie distributors and streamers that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and widen at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. Big banners are not just producing another chapter. They are moving to present continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a reframed mood or a talent selection that binds a latest entry to a early run. At the same time, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are favoring tactile craft, on-set effects and specific settings. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a smart balance of familiarity and freshness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent titles that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a back-to-basics character piece. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture announces a heritage-honoring approach without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. A campaign is expected rooted in classic imagery, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever rules the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique releases. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that escalates into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to bring back viral uncanny stunts and bite-size content that threads attachment and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a name unveil to become an attention spike closer to the debut look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are framed as filmmaker events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot offers Universal room to maximize 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has made clear that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered style can feel premium on a efficient spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror charge that centers international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is describing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both core fans and curious audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around canon, and monster design, elements that can boost premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror defined by meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time set against lycan legends. The specialty arm has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that elevates both week-one demand and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with cross-border buys and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using timely promos, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays nimble about in-house releases and festival wins, dating horror entries near their drops and turning into events premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a hybrid of targeted cinema placements and accelerated platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 sequence with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a standard theatrical run for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, curating the rollout through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to broaden. That positioning has delivered for director-led genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception merits. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By share, 2026 leans toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The question, as ever, is brand wear. The preferred tactic is to position each entry as a new angle. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a new voice. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the deal build is known enough to spark pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps frame the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror outperformed in PLF. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, permits marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind the year’s horror hint at a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that centers mood and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-aware reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which align with convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel necessary. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the palette of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a peekaboo tease plan and limited disclosures that put concept first.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s AI companion shifts into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak Get More Info as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 demanding boss try to survive on a desolate island as the control balance upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to nightmare, founded on Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting story that pipes the unease through a preteen’s shifting subjective view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: locked. 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 reuniting creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that targets today’s horror trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a young family caught in long-buried horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. Production: ongoing. 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 antique diction and primal menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three grounded forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and compressed 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, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit 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 land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 dark-horse 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 press those advantages. 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural 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 shadowed, 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 sequence upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, right-sized allotments, 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 visual texture, sound field, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is name recognition where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The this content 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, protect the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.