Antediluvian Terror Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising thriller, landing October 2025 across global platforms

This eerie metaphysical fright fest from literary architect / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an primeval force when strangers become tools in a demonic trial. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving narrative of resilience and primordial malevolence that will reimagine the fear genre this spooky time. Crafted by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and cinematic feature follows five figures who come to stranded in a secluded shelter under the unfriendly rule of Kyra, a central character occupied by a 2,000-year-old religious nightmare. Arm yourself to be shaken by a big screen event that melds soul-chilling terror with arcane tradition, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a long-standing fixture in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is reimagined when the dark entities no longer manifest outside their bodies, but rather from deep inside. This represents the grimmest side of each of them. The result is a relentless identity crisis where the intensity becomes a soul-crushing conflict between light and darkness.


In a barren wilderness, five characters find themselves cornered under the possessive grip and domination of a elusive woman. As the cast becomes vulnerable to escape her command, severed and stalked by powers unnamable, they are confronted to deal with their greatest panics while the moments unforgivingly strikes toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and relationships break, requiring each person to doubt their existence and the nature of autonomy itself. The stakes mount with every short lapse, delivering a horror experience that merges spiritual fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to uncover ancestral fear, an spirit beyond recorded history, filtering through human fragility, and wrestling with a will that questions who we are when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra demanded embodying something outside normal anguish. She is insensitive until the takeover begins, and that change is eerie because it is so emotional.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing streamers from coast to coast can engage with this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, offering the tale to horror fans worldwide.


Don’t miss this mind-warping voyage through terror. Enter *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to witness these terrifying truths about our species.


For film updates, director cuts, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across entertainment pages and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror Turning Point: 2025 in focus U.S. lineup integrates old-world possession, festival-born jolts, in parallel with returning-series thunder

Across pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in ancient scripture to installment follow-ups as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered along with intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios lay down anchors through proven series, as streamers saturate the fall with discovery plays paired with primordial unease. Across the art-house lane, the artisan tier is catching the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the other windows are mapped with care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are surgical, which means 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium genre swings back

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

the Universal banner begins the calendar with a risk-forward move: a reimagined Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, inside today’s landscape. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. timed for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer fades, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. This pass pushes higher, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The new chapter enriches the lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Plays: Economy, maximum dread

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror duet featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Penned and steered 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 darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed 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 a clever angle. No bloated canon. No series drag. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror swings back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next fear release year: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, and also A hectic Calendar optimized for goosebumps

Dek The emerging terror calendar lines up from day one with a January pile-up, subsequently carries through summer, and straight through the holidays, mixing IP strength, new voices, and savvy counterweight. Distributors with platforms are committing to cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and social-fueled campaigns that pivot these offerings into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the bankable swing in annual schedules, a segment that can grow when it catches and still protect the liability when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year showed top brass that modestly budgeted pictures can lead pop culture, the following year kept energy high with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The carry moved into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and awards-minded projects showed there is a lane for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that carry overseas. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a roster that seems notably aligned across the industry, with planned clusters, a spread of marquee IP and new pitches, and a revived attention on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now serves as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can roll out on open real estate, create a grabby hook for marketing and UGC-friendly snippets, and punch above weight with moviegoers that turn out on early shows and hold through the sophomore frame if the picture pays off. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration shows belief in that equation. The slate starts with a crowded January run, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a late-year stretch that carries into All Hallows period and past Halloween. The calendar also reflects the deeper integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

An added macro current is legacy care across shared IP webs and established properties. Major shops are not just turning out another continuation. They are shaping as brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a new tone or a cast configuration that connects a next film to a initial period. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on on-set craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That blend delivers 2026 a robust balance of recognition and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket projects that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, positioning the film as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a legacy-leaning mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt mass reach through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear strategies. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man installs an machine companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to reprise strange in-person beats and micro spots that interlaces love and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under internal titles 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 public title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s pictures are framed as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has long shown that a raw, practical-first strategy can feel big on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a red-band summer horror hit that centers global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is billing as a new take 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 sharper mandate to serve both diehards and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can fuel format premiums and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by careful craft and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that enhances both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video will mix library titles with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in archive usage, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to lengthen the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix plays opportunist about original films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is direct: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then using the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception warrants. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By skew, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on household recognition. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is foregrounding character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-inflected take from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the package is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was strong. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on 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 filmed in sequence, permits marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without lulls.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind these films telegraph a continued emphasis on hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has delivered 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 reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which match well with convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that center razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

How the year maps out

January is heavy. Universal’s 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 heavier IP. The month finishes 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 stiff, but the tonal variety gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. have a peek here Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s AI companion becomes something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 struggle to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power swivels and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 home-set haunting setup that frames the panic through a minor’s unreliable subjective lens. Rating: TBA. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-supported and toplined occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that satirizes current genre trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family caught in older hauntings. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBA. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and primal menace. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror Source can move in swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on repeatable beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will jostle across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 search for sleepers 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions 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 appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient screen counts, 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 surface detail, audio design, and framing 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 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is IP strength where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the scares sell the seats.