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

An spine-tingling occult terror film from scriptwriter / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an primeval nightmare when newcomers become proxies in a dark ritual. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing account of resilience and archaic horror that will reshape the fear genre this cool-weather season. Realized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and emotionally thick feature follows five lost souls who arise confined in a off-grid lodge under the unfriendly influence of Kyra, a central character inhabited by a legendary biblical demon. Be warned to be captivated by a cinematic journey that combines bone-deep fear with ancient myths, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a iconic motif in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is challenged when the malevolences no longer descend from elsewhere, but rather from their psyche. This suggests the haunting shade of the players. The result is a gripping mind game where the story becomes a merciless face-off between moral forces.


In a isolated backcountry, five teens find themselves caught under the malevolent grip and overtake of a mysterious woman. As the group becomes incapable to break her power, cut off and hunted by creatures unfathomable, they are compelled to deal with their inner horrors while the countdown without pause ticks onward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension intensifies and friendships erode, pushing each figure to question their self and the concept of freedom of choice itself. The tension climb with every heartbeat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that integrates occult fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to uncover primitive panic, an evil older than civilization itself, working through inner turmoil, and wrestling with a force that questions who we are when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra asked for exploring something beyond human emotion. She is uninformed until the haunting manifests, and that metamorphosis is soul-crushing because it is so internal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering customers around the globe can be part of this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first preview, which has earned over six-figure audience.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, offering the tale to thrill-seekers globally.


Don’t miss this visceral spiral into evil. Explore *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to witness these terrifying truths about our species.


For behind-the-scenes access, production insights, and social posts from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across online outlets and visit the film’s website.





U.S. horror’s decisive shift: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts melds legend-infused possession, signature indie scares, stacked beside IP aftershocks

Moving from last-stand terror inspired by primordial scripture all the way to installment follow-ups in concert with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the most complex along with strategic year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios lock in tentpoles with familiar IP, at the same time premium streamers flood the fall with new voices alongside primordial unease. On the festival side, independent banners is drafting behind the kinetic energy from a record 2024 festival run. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, which means 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Elevated fear reclaims ground

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal Pictures starts the year with a big gambit: a contemporary Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Slated 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. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: period tinged dread, trauma foregrounded, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, stretches the animatronic parade, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It opens in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a forensic chill anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale led by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. 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.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No overinflated mythology. No IP hangover. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Series Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. 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, led by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Emerging Currents

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Fall saturation and a winter joker

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The approaching genre cycle: Sequels, fresh concepts, alongside A hectic Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek: The new genre slate packs in short order with a January crush, and then carries through summer, and continuing into the holidays, balancing brand heft, original angles, and well-timed counterprogramming. The major players are prioritizing cost discipline, theatrical-first rollouts, and short-form initiatives that turn these pictures into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror has emerged as the bankable move in studio lineups, a category that can break out when it breaks through and still buffer the losses when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year re-taught top brass that efficiently budgeted pictures can drive social chatter, 2024 continued the surge with signature-voice projects and quiet over-performers. The tailwind carried into the 2025 frame, where reboots and elevated films proved there is an opening for many shades, from continued chapters to standalone ideas that travel well. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a grid that appears tightly organized across the field, with mapped-out bands, a balance of recognizable IP and fresh ideas, and a re-energized focus on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Insiders argue the horror lane now behaves like a schedule utility on the calendar. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, create a quick sell for trailers and short-form placements, and overperform with viewers that line up on opening previews and continue through the next pass if the entry hits. Exiting a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 plan indicates assurance in that playbook. The slate commences with a front-loaded January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for counterweight, while reserving space for a fall run that flows toward spooky season and beyond. The layout also shows the greater integration of indie distributors and platforms that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and go nationwide at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across linked properties and established properties. Distribution groups are not just turning out another return. They are seeking to position connection with a occasion, whether that is a logo package that indicates a fresh attitude or a lead change that binds a next entry to a initial period. At the very same time, the visionaries behind the headline-grabbing originals are favoring practical craft, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That interplay delivers the 2026 slate a lively combination of familiarity and unexpected turns, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece bets that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the core, angling it as both a lineage transfer and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the directional approach announces a classic-referencing framework without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign centered on heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reignites 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 as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever dominates genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is efficient, tragic, and logline-clear: a grieving man brings home an virtual partner that mutates into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the marketing arm likely to bring back odd public stunts and brief clips that fuses devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an headline beat closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are sold as filmmaker events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has made clear that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects treatment can feel high-value on a lean spend. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror hit that embraces offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio deploys two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, sustaining a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is presenting as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build promo materials around narrative world, and creature effects, elements that can increase premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by minute detail and dialect, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a cadence that elevates both debut momentum and subscriber lifts in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library engagement, using in-app campaigns, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival wins, confirming horror entries near their drops and staging as events launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of limited theatrical footprints and accelerated platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has signaled readiness to board select projects with award winners or star-driven packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clean: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 leans toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on household recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is foregrounding character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is recognizable enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps frame the model. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not stop a simultaneous release test from thriving when the brand was big. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel new when they angle differently and increase ambition. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to leave creative active without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that foregrounds mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft coverage before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which favor expo activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that benefit on big speakers.

How the year maps out

January is heavy. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends 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 real, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once Get More Info favored genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. 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 finished their premium pass.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that center concept over reveals.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can broaden 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 continuing to be revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s virtual companion becomes something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 encounter a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 difficult boss push to survive on a lonely island as the hierarchy flips and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

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 retelling that returns the monster to menace, driven by Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting tale that refracts terror through a minor’s flickering internal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. 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 back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody return that targets current genre trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. 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: unrevealed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a unlucky family tethered to residual nightmares. Rating: forthcoming. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on classic survival-horror tone over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and primal menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces organize this lineup. First, production that slowed or rearranged in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Calendar math also matters. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 surprise 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. 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound field, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide More about the author into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand gravity where needed, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.