Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across top digital platforms

A bone-chilling mystic shockfest from screenwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an forgotten evil when unrelated individuals become subjects in a supernatural experiment. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving narrative of continuance and primeval wickedness that will reconstruct the fear genre this Halloween season. Created by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and moody thriller follows five characters who snap to sealed in a cut-off wooden structure under the ominous rule of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a antiquated biblical demon. Be warned to be enthralled by a narrative venture that harmonizes bodily fright with folklore, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a enduring tradition in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is twisted when the fiends no longer develop beyond the self, but rather deep within. This represents the most primal shade of each of them. The result is a intense cognitive warzone where the events becomes a unforgiving face-off between innocence and sin.


In a haunting landscape, five campers find themselves contained under the ghastly sway and curse of a elusive being. As the youths becomes paralyzed to reject her control, isolated and targeted by powers inconceivable, they are cornered to stand before their soulful dreads while the time without pity pushes forward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread grows and bonds dissolve, pressuring each person to reflect on their being and the idea of personal agency itself. The consequences magnify with every heartbeat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that blends spiritual fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to awaken deep fear, an darkness beyond time, influencing emotional fractures, and confronting a being that threatens selfhood when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is insensitive until the demon emerges, and that change is eerie because it is so raw.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering audiences in all regions can engage with this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original promo, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, exporting the fear to thrill-seekers globally.


Be sure to catch this life-altering fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to see these nightmarish insights about the human condition.


For teasers, on-set glimpses, and social posts from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across media channels and visit the official movie site.





Today’s horror inflection point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar fuses legend-infused possession, independent shockers, plus brand-name tremors

Spanning survivor-centric dread grounded in near-Eastern lore and including legacy revivals plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex paired with deliberate year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Top studios set cornerstones via recognizable brands, while streaming platforms stack the fall with new voices plus mythic dread. At the same time, festival-forward creators is buoyed by the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are precise, thus 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige fear returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with a statement play: a refashioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, inside today’s landscape. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. set 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 and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner lot unveils the final movement from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 follows. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and those signature textures resurface: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time, the stakes are raised, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The continuation widens the legend, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: Modest spend, serious shock

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a room scale body horror descent pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. 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 more runway than museum.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trend Lines

Old myth goes broad
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror ascends again
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching terror cycle: installments, standalone ideas, and also A Crowded Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The incoming horror season loads in short order with a January bottleneck, before it flows through June and July, and deep into the December corridor, mixing marquee clout, new concepts, and calculated counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are betting on cost discipline, theatrical leads, and viral-minded pushes that shape these films into national conversation.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the steady tool in studio calendars, a space that can lift when it performs and still mitigate the liability when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year re-taught leaders that cost-conscious fright engines can shape pop culture, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The run translated to 2025, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is space for varied styles, from legacy continuations to standalone ideas that scale internationally. The sum for the 2026 slate is a lineup that shows rare alignment across players, with clear date clusters, a pairing of brand names and new concepts, and a sharpened attention on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on premium rental and digital services.

Planners observe the space now serves as a versatile piece on the distribution slate. Horror can open on virtually any date, create a clear pitch for promo reels and reels, and over-index with ticket buyers that lean in on previews Thursday and sustain through the subsequent weekend if the picture delivers. Exiting a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 plan telegraphs conviction in that equation. The slate starts with a loaded January schedule, then targets spring into early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a autumn push that reaches into All Hallows period and afterwards. The gridline also underscores the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and platforms that can develop over weeks, spark evangelism, and move wide at the inflection point.

A companion trend is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. Studio teams are not just mounting another next film. They are trying to present story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that signals a re-angled tone or a talent selection that anchors a next film to a initial period. At the same time, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into real-world builds, physical gags and specific settings. That fusion produces the 2026 slate a lively combination of trust and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a handoff and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a heritage-honoring approach without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout anchored in brand visuals, first images of characters, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to 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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will lean on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will pursue large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick reframes to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tidy, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an artificial companion that becomes a harmful mate. The date places it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s campaign likely to revisit uncanny live moments and snackable content that interlaces attachment and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s pictures are branded as signature events, with a teaser that holds back and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-October frame opens a lane to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has shown that a visceral, makeup-driven approach can feel prestige on a efficient spend. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror charge that emphasizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, preserving a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is framing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both diehards and curious Young & Cursed audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around lore, and creature effects, elements that can increase deluxe auditorium demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by careful craft and archaic language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal titles shift to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with cross-border buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, October hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival buys, securing horror entries toward the drop and making event-like premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical rollout for the title, an good sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with mainstream crossovers. 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 safe bet is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception justifies. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By skew, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-inflected take from a rising filmmaker. news Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries 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, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is assuring enough to generate pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent comps contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not obstruct a hybrid test from working when the brand was big. In 2024, director-craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they alter lens and expand the canvas. 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 double feature plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to link the films through protagonists and motifs and to leave creative active without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror telegraph a continued preference for tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that leans on tone and tension rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a spare, elemental mood on weblink the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a preview that elevates tone over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and produces shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta refresh that centers an original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature execution and sets, which favor convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that underscore precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that shine in top rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is loaded. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid macro-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the mix of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late winter and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. 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 finished their premium pass.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-October slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited information drops that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 organizes 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 comes 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: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 abrasive boss battle to survive on a remote island as the chain of command turns and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to nightmare, shaped by Cronin’s practical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 in-home haunting tale that explores the horror of a child’s uncertain read. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-supported and toplined ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that targets present-day genre chatter and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 breaks out, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new household entangled with long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A fresh restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving forward. 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 era-faithful speech and raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 in flux, fall expected.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and accelerated schedules. 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, metered scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where low-to-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, 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, soundscape, 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.

2026 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is name recognition where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.