Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient terror, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across leading streamers

A chilling unearthly terror film from storyteller / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten force when strangers become tokens in a diabolical ritual. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching tale of resilience and primeval wickedness that will resculpt terror storytelling this spooky time. Created by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and tone-heavy tale follows five strangers who suddenly rise ensnared in a isolated hideaway under the oppressive sway of Kyra, a female presence dominated by a two-thousand-year-old ancient fiend. Get ready to be captivated by a visual spectacle that blends visceral dread with mythic lore, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a iconic pillar in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is redefined when the malevolences no longer descend beyond the self, but rather from deep inside. This depicts the most primal part of all involved. The result is a enthralling spiritual tug-of-war where the intensity becomes a brutal struggle between good and evil.


In a wilderness-stricken landscape, five figures find themselves confined under the ghastly aura and control of a elusive character. As the group becomes unable to fight her curse, abandoned and preyed upon by forces impossible to understand, they are cornered to battle their raw vulnerabilities while the doomsday meter brutally draws closer toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust escalates and friendships dissolve, prompting each character to reconsider their being and the notion of volition itself. The cost magnify with every instant, delivering a paranormal ride that marries occult fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dive into ancestral fear, an malevolence that predates humanity, manipulating fragile psyche, and confronting a presence that threatens selfhood when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra called for internalizing something rooted in terror. She is uninformed until the demon emerges, and that evolution is terrifying because it is so visceral.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that watchers across the world can experience this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original clip, which has been viewed over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, delivering the story to international horror buffs.


Witness this bone-rattling fall into madness. Join *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to experience these unholy truths about the human condition.


For behind-the-scenes access, filmmaker commentary, and updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across fan hubs and visit the film’s website.





Horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 season U.S. release slate interlaces ancient-possession motifs, microbudget gut-punches, set against franchise surges

Spanning fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from scriptural legend and onward to series comebacks and focused festival visions, 2025 is shaping up as the richest and precision-timed year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses set cornerstones with franchise anchors, concurrently premium streamers front-load the fall with unboxed visions set against ancestral chills. On the festival side, festival-forward creators is carried on the afterglow of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are exacting, so 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Premium dread reemerges

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the base, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s pipeline opens the year with an audacious swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a modern-day environment. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer tapers, the WB camp bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, plus otherworld rules that chill. This pass pushes higher, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Plays: Slim budgets, major punch

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in 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. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

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. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed 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.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Signals and Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forward View: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new genre lineup: entries, fresh concepts, paired with A busy Calendar Built For frights

Dek The upcoming terror cycle builds from the jump with a January pile-up, after that spreads through the mid-year, and well into the late-year period, mixing franchise firepower, new voices, and strategic calendar placement. Studios and streamers are relying on right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that elevate genre titles into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror has emerged as the steady lever in release strategies, a vertical that can accelerate when it connects and still cushion the risk when it does not. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that cost-conscious scare machines can drive the discourse, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and stealth successes. The trend rolled into 2025, where re-entries and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is demand for a spectrum, from series extensions to original one-offs that carry overseas. The end result for the 2026 slate is a run that looks unusually coordinated across studios, with obvious clusters, a blend of known properties and original hooks, and a recommitted attention on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and streaming.

Planners observe the horror lane now serves as a schedule utility on the programming map. The genre can arrive on virtually any date, yield a grabby hook for creative and reels, and over-index with patrons that show up on previews Thursday and hold through the next pass if the movie connects. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 rhythm shows belief in that logic. The slate rolls out with a thick January block, then uses spring and early summer for contrast, while carving room for a fall cadence that connects to Halloween and afterwards. The calendar also shows the continuing integration of specialty distributors and streamers that can platform a title, ignite recommendations, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A further high-level trend is IP stewardship across shared universes and storied titles. Major shops are not just releasing another entry. They are aiming to frame lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that announces a re-angled tone or a ensemble decision that binds a next film to a heyday. At the same time, the creative teams behind the marquee originals are doubling down on material texture, real effects and specific settings. That pairing delivers 2026 a strong blend of recognition and shock, which is why the genre exports well.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two prominent projects that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the heart, framing it as both a passing of the torch and a DNA-forward character-focused installment. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach points to a memory-charged campaign without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push built on iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever shapes the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that turns into a lethal partner. The date places it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the studio’s marketing likely to mirror creepy live activations and short-cut promos that threads romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His projects are positioned as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The spooky-season slot allows Universal to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a blood-soaked, prosthetic-heavy approach can feel deluxe on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a viscera-heavy summer horror jolt that spotlights international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio launches two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, preserving a trusty supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is billing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both core fans and novices. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around environmental design, and creature effects, elements that can boost premium format interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on careful craft and dialect, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is warm.

How the platforms plan to play it

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal titles feed copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a tiered path that amplifies both debut momentum and platform bumps in the tail. Prime Video balances third-party pickups with international acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and featured rows to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix stays nimble about own-slate titles and festival snaps, locking in horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events arrivals with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and short jumps to platform that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 sequence with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is clear: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the year-end corridor to open out. That positioning has been successful for elevated genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception warrants. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using targeted theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By number, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand wear. The standing approach is to package each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is spotlighting character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-accented approach from a new voice. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the package is steady enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that held distribution windows did not stop a parallel release from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror popped in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they change perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters filmed in sequence, builds a path for marketing to link the films through character arcs and themes and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind this slate point to a continued bias toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores grain and menace rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta recalibration that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster aesthetics and world-building, which are ideal for convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

January is packed. 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 brooding contrast amid larger brand plays. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the palette of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Post-January through spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited advance reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s virtual companion evolves into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: aura-driven 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 claw to survive on a rugged island as the power balance of power tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: marquee survival piece 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 modern reimagining that returns the monster to chill, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting premise that manipulates the chill of see here a child’s unreliable senses. Rating: to be announced. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a different family caught in older hauntings. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on classic survival-horror tone over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBD. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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-accurate language and raw menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 releases. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, 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 ideal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. Anticipate a robust 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, soundscape, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, auteur intent 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.