Age-old Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across global platforms

This bone-chilling spiritual scare-fest from author / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an long-buried malevolence when unrelated individuals become proxies in a fiendish ordeal. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking account of living through and ancient evil that will reshape fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Produced by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody suspense flick follows five unacquainted souls who wake up trapped in a hidden lodge under the oppressive will of Kyra, a female lead claimed by a 2,000-year-old biblical force. Anticipate to be shaken by a theatrical display that weaves together bodily fright with mythic lore, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a well-established foundation in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is challenged when the fiends no longer manifest from external sources, but rather inside their minds. This portrays the darkest version of the protagonists. The result is a relentless mind game where the plotline becomes a constant push-pull between innocence and sin.


In a isolated landscape, five characters find themselves confined under the ghastly rule and grasp of a shadowy apparition. As the ensemble becomes powerless to break her rule, abandoned and stalked by evils beyond comprehension, they are obligated to battle their greatest panics while the deathwatch ruthlessly counts down toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust mounts and partnerships splinter, compelling each cast member to challenge their values and the structure of self-determination itself. The intensity surge with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that integrates otherworldly suspense with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to evoke core terror, an darkness older than civilization itself, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and confronting a spirit that questions who we are when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra required summoning something darker than pain. She is unaware until the spirit seizes her, and that evolution is emotionally raw because it is so private.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure horror lovers in all regions can watch this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first preview, which has attracted over notable views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, taking the terror to horror fans worldwide.


Experience this cinematic journey into fear. Face *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to acknowledge these chilling revelations about human nature.


For teasers, filmmaker commentary, and press updates from those who lived it, follow @YACFilm across platforms and visit the film’s website.





Contemporary horror’s Turning Point: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate integrates Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, and legacy-brand quakes

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales grounded in old testament echoes as well as franchise returns and focused festival visions, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated and strategic year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. major banners lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, in tandem platform operators flood the fall with new perspectives in concert with primordial unease. Across the art-house lane, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is surfing the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween stays the prime week, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are disciplined, and 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium dread reemerges

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

Universal sets the tone with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a clear present-tense world. Directed by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

By late summer, the Warner Bros. banner unveils the final movement within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. The stakes escalate here, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It hits in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror duet including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also rising is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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. It is a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, from Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror ascends again
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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 including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The coming 2026 chiller Year Ahead: continuations, non-franchise titles, plus A packed Calendar calibrated for chills

Dek: The incoming genre cycle loads early with a January wave, thereafter rolls through the summer months, and carrying into the holiday stretch, weaving legacy muscle, new concepts, and tactical offsets. Studios and platforms are leaning into smart costs, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that convert the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has emerged as the consistent play in studio calendars, a space that can spike when it clicks and still safeguard the liability when it does not. After 2023 reassured decision-makers that modestly budgeted pictures can lead the national conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The head of steam flowed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and arthouse crossovers underscored there is space for a spectrum, from legacy continuations to non-IP projects that travel well. The aggregate for 2026 is a run that feels more orchestrated than usual across distributors, with defined corridors, a combination of marquee IP and original hooks, and a revived commitment on exhibition windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and streaming.

Buyers contend the space now performs as a swing piece on the calendar. Horror can open on many corridors, generate a sharp concept for previews and social clips, and overperform with audiences that appear on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the sophomore frame if the entry lands. Coming out of a production delay era, the 2026 setup indicates conviction in that equation. The year commences with a loaded January stretch, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while leaving room for a September to October window that reaches into late October and past Halloween. The calendar also reflects the greater integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can stage a platform run, stoke social talk, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and long-running brands. The companies are not just greenlighting another follow-up. They are trying to present continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that indicates a refreshed voice or a star attachment that threads a new installment to a original cycle. At the very same time, the creative leads behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into real-world builds, practical effects and concrete locations. That fusion gives 2026 a smart balance of home base and invention, which is how the films export.

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

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent moves that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a baton pass and a DNA-forward character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a memory-charged bent without replaying the last two entries’ sisters thread. Watch for a push rooted in franchise iconography, intro reveals, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will emphasize. As a summer alternative, this one will generate wide buzz through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick shifts to whatever rules the conversation that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tight, somber, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an intelligent companion that turns into a perilous partner. The date sets it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to recreate uncanny live moments and short-form creative that interweaves intimacy and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The spooky-season slot gives Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has consistently shown that a blood-soaked, physical-effects centered execution can feel cinematic on a mid-range budget. Look for a splatter summer horror shock that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio mounts two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a bankable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is marketing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around lore, and monster craft, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror defined by textural authenticity and dialect, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus’s team has already set the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that expands both premiere heat and viewer acquisition in the tail. Prime Video combines outside acquisitions with international acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library pulls, using curated hubs, Halloween hubs, and featured rows to lengthen the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival pickups, dating horror entries near launch and turning into events launches with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a two-step of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown a willingness to buy select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly engagement when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 lane with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is straightforward: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, reimagined for modern mix and image. 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 positioned a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well 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 generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception justifies. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber get redirected here growth.

Balance of brands and originals

By weight, 2026 bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is elevating character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-flavored turn from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the packaging is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent comps frame the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that honored streaming windows did not foreclose a dual release from paying off when the brand was big. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they pivot perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character and theme and to keep materials circulating without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The production chatter behind these films telegraph a continued move toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that leans on mood and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in feature stories and craft coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta pivot that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster work and world-building, which fit with convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

January is jammed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited information drops that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over weblink the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card spend.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s AI companion grows into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Get More Info 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 collide with a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 tough boss struggle to survive on a lonely island as the control balance inverts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting narrative that toys with the panic of a child’s mercurial point of view. Rating: pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house 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 satirical comeback that needles today’s horror trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras due to roll 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 detonates, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a another family entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A new start designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-driven horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. 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 elemental fear. Rating: forthcoming. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 grounded forces drive this lineup. First, production that decelerated or reshuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from test screenings, select scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Calendar math also matters. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will coexist across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 chase continues in Q1, where value-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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, 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 pace and range. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing 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 welcome the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, tight deployments, 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 visuals 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, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand heft where it matters, original 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, protect the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.