Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

An unnerving paranormal fright fest from literary architect / director Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an primordial fear when drifters become pawns in a fiendish ordeal. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking journey of resistance and primeval wickedness that will alter the horror genre this fall. Directed by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and shadowy motion picture follows five unacquainted souls who wake up stuck in a isolated hideaway under the aggressive sway of Kyra, a mysterious girl haunted by a millennia-old ancient fiend. Be prepared to be hooked by a immersive display that unites bone-deep fear with legendary tales, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a mainstay trope in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is redefined when the malevolences no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather inside them. This suggests the grimmest element of each of them. The result is a gripping cognitive warzone where the events becomes a soul-crushing conflict between moral forces.


In a unforgiving outland, five souls find themselves sealed under the unholy aura and domination of a uncanny person. As the team becomes helpless to resist her influence, severed and stalked by terrors inconceivable, they are compelled to confront their core terrors while the doomsday meter without pity strikes toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust mounts and alliances dissolve, driving each member to reflect on their character and the nature of personal agency itself. The intensity rise with every second, delivering a scare-fueled ride that harmonizes supernatural terror with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to tap into deep fear, an force beyond recorded history, emerging via human fragility, and navigating a power that dismantles free will when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra meant evoking something unfamiliar to reason. She is oblivious until the takeover begins, and that shift is terrifying because it is so unshielded.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering viewers across the world can experience this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its initial teaser, which has attracted over 100K plays.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, giving access to the movie to a global viewership.


Avoid skipping this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to explore these nightmarish insights about mankind.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and news from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit our film’s homepage.





Horror’s watershed moment: 2025 across markets stateside slate Mixes biblical-possession ideas, signature indie scares, in parallel with brand-name tremors

Moving from survivor-centric dread steeped in old testament echoes through to series comebacks alongside incisive indie visions, 2025 looks like the most complex together with strategic year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. the big studios are anchoring the year with franchise anchors, at the same time OTT services load up the fall with debut heat set against primordial unease. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is propelled by the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. Since Halloween is the prized date, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are methodical, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: The Return of Prestige Fear

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal kicks off the frame with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a modern-day environment. Directed by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. landing in mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer fades, the Warner lot releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

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: retrograde shiver, trauma as narrative engine, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and directed 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 the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, 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. It is a calculated bet. No bloated canon. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

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

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. 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.

Key Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

What’s Next: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The coming 2026 fright season: follow-ups, fresh concepts, in tandem with A jammed Calendar calibrated for chills

Dek The emerging horror calendar crowds at the outset with a January bottleneck, subsequently carries through peak season, and carrying into the holidays, blending franchise firepower, original angles, and well-timed counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are committing to efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that shape genre titles into culture-wide discussion.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has established itself as the bankable swing in distribution calendars, a space that can scale when it lands and still safeguard the risk when it underperforms. After the 2023 year signaled to studio brass that lean-budget entries can lead audience talk, the following year held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The head of steam extended into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and filmmaker-prestige bets demonstrated there is space for different modes, from continued chapters to non-IP projects that play globally. The takeaway for 2026 is a grid that presents tight coordination across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a equilibrium of household franchises and untested plays, and a recommitted strategy on cinema windows that feed downstream value on premium home window and home streaming.

Schedulers say the category now works like a wildcard on the rollout map. Horror can roll out on almost any weekend, supply a tight logline for ad units and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with patrons that turn out on opening previews and sustain through the second frame if the offering fires. Following a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 rhythm reflects confidence in that logic. The year gets underway with a busy January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while saving space for a fall cadence that flows toward the fright window and afterwards. The arrangement also features the deeper integration of indie distributors and streamers that can grow from platform, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

Another broad trend is brand curation across unified worlds and classic IP. The studios are not just greenlighting another next film. They are working to present story carry-over with a occasion, whether that is a brandmark that telegraphs a refreshed voice or a casting move that connects a next entry to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the creative leads behind the eagerly awaited originals are favoring practical craft, practical effects and concrete locations. That convergence produces the 2026 slate a vital pairing of recognition and surprise, which is the formula for international play.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent moves that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the spine, framing it as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the tonal posture announces a heritage-honoring campaign without covering again the last two entries’ sibling arc. Look for a marketing run centered on heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will lean on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will seek mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format permitting quick pivots to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is straightforward, grief-rooted, and high-concept: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that escalates into a dangerous lover. The date lines it up at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to recreate odd public stunts and snackable content that interlaces romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an event moment closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are branded as creative events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend gives the studio room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a raw, prosthetic-heavy execution can feel deluxe on a mid-range budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror charge that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio books two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a evergreen supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has repositioned 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 reboots in what Sony is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around environmental design, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost premium booking interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by historical precision and period speech, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already set the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s releases flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a cadence that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and viewer acquisition in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and programmed rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays opportunistic about first-party entries and festival deals, dating horror entries with shorter lead times and positioning as event drops rollouts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a laddered of targeted theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to invest in select projects with accomplished filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 corridor with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is tight: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, modernized for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the December frame to broaden. That positioning has proved effective for director-led genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception prompts. 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 parallel, using small theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their community.

Series vs standalone

By count, 2026 bends toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on brand equity. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is leading with core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French sensibility from a fresh helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the bundle is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps outline the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not stop a same-day experiment from hitting when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot in tandem, gives leeway to weblink marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to leave creative active without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that elevates mood and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and drives shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta refresh that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel primary. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is heavy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the menu of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Winter into spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a slow-reveal plan and limited asset reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s artificial companion escalates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: mood-led 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 hard-edged boss struggle to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic swivels and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to nightmare, anchored by Cronin’s hands-on craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting tale that teases the chill of a child’s shaky interpretations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-financed and name-above-title supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody return that pokes at in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked 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 erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Young & Cursed Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The More about the author Further opens again, with a different family entangled with past horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: pending. Production: proceeding. 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 period language and ancient menace. Rating: pending. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why this year, why now

Three practical forces drive this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter timelines. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where modest-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 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. 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.