Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 across premium platforms

A hair-raising supernatural suspense film from creator / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primordial terror when strangers become tokens in a fiendish maze. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing account of endurance and primordial malevolence that will revolutionize horror this harvest season. Brought to life by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and immersive cinema piece follows five teens who emerge confined in a hidden house under the aggressive power of Kyra, a cursed figure inhabited by a time-worn religious nightmare. Be warned to be seized by a narrative presentation that intertwines gut-punch terror with mythic lore, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a historical trope in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is twisted when the entities no longer form outside the characters, but rather from deep inside. This echoes the malevolent corner of all involved. The result is a edge-of-seat mental war where the intensity becomes a soul-crushing tug-of-war between purity and corruption.


In a wilderness-stricken backcountry, five teens find themselves sealed under the malicious presence and domination of a obscure character. As the cast becomes incapable to evade her grasp, marooned and tormented by beings beyond comprehension, they are confronted to deal with their core terrors while the time unceasingly moves toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and connections fracture, compelling each protagonist to rethink their being and the structure of conscious will itself. The danger accelerate with every second, delivering a terror ride that weaves together paranormal dread with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to awaken deep fear, an spirit beyond time, feeding on human fragility, and confronting a being that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra needed manifesting something unfamiliar to reason. She is clueless until the spirit seizes her, and that transition is bone-chilling because it is so deep.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for horror fans beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing watchers around the globe can watch this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first preview, which has gathered over a viral response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, offering the tale to global fright lovers.


Mark your calendar for this gripping spiral into evil. Watch *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to dive into these evil-rooted truths about our species.


For featurettes, filmmaker commentary, and updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across fan hubs and visit our spooky domain.





Horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season stateside slate melds ancient-possession motifs, art-house nightmares, together with IP aftershocks

Beginning with grit-forward survival fare infused with primordial scripture and stretching into installment follow-ups together with acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most variegated together with carefully orchestrated year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. leading studios lay down anchors using marquee IP, in tandem streamers front-load the fall with fresh voices alongside scriptural shivers. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is buoyed by the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson is back, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

SVOD Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also notable is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative starring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

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. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is canny scheduling. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Brands: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trend Lines

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror ascends again
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The upcoming terror lineup: brand plays, new stories, paired with A packed Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The current genre year builds immediately with a January glut, subsequently unfolds through summer corridors, and far into the holidays, fusing marquee clout, novel approaches, and calculated offsets. Studios and streamers are doubling down on right-sized spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and social-driven marketing that shape these releases into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror marketplace has become the steady lever in release plans, a segment that can expand when it lands and still hedge the risk when it does not. After the 2023 year re-taught greenlighters that cost-conscious genre plays can dominate social chatter, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The energy rolled into 2025, where revivals and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is an opening for different modes, from returning installments to original one-offs that scale internationally. The result for 2026 is a run that appears tightly organized across the market, with defined corridors, a harmony of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a refocused eye on big-screen windows that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the space now serves as a plug-and-play option on the slate. Horror can open on almost any weekend, provide a quick sell for ad units and shorts, and punch above weight with moviegoers that appear on previews Thursday and sustain through the second frame if the offering connects. Coming out of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence shows faith in that dynamic. The year launches with a thick January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that flows toward Halloween and into early November. The gridline also underscores the ongoing integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, build word of mouth, and widen at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across linked properties and classic IP. The companies are not just turning out another continuation. They are setting up threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a new vibe or a ensemble decision that links a incoming chapter to a early run. At the same time, the auteurs behind the top original plays are celebrating material texture, practical effects and grounded locations. That interplay yields 2026 a vital pairing of familiarity and shock, which is what works overseas.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile releases that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-first story. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a nostalgia-forward framework without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Plan for a rollout centered on franchise iconography, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt large awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever dominates the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three defined projects. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that becomes a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to reprise strange in-person beats and short reels that melds romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are positioned as director events, with a minimalist tease and a second wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame allows Universal to lead 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has shown that a gritty, in-camera leaning aesthetic can feel big on a controlled budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror blast that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is describing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build artifacts around universe detail, and monster design, elements that can boost large-format demand and community activity.

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 follows Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by minute detail and historical speech, this time set against lycan legends. Focus has already locked the day for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

Digital platform strategies

Digital strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre slate shift to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that amplifies both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays nimble about first-party entries and festival grabs, dating horror entries near launch and turning into events arrivals with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to pick up select projects with established auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical rollout for the title, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to open out. That positioning has served the company well for prestige horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception justifies. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using small theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 this contact form slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use legacy awareness. The risk, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the deal build is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Recent-year comps make sense of the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that held distribution windows did not foreclose a day-date try from thriving when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and widen scale. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to relate entries through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror point to a continued move toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers grain and menace rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that withholds plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature work and production design, which lend themselves to convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. 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 somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tonal variety opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Late Q1 and spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to 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 bereaved man’s AI companion grows into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 hard-edged boss scramble to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting setup that frames the panic through a kid’s unreliable subjective lens. Rating: forthcoming. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. imp source Logline: {A comic send-up that teases modern genre fads and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with news a fresh family anchored to residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: undetermined. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and raw menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI 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 leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, select scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will cluster across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The 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 maximize those pockets. 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 rhythm and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, aural design, and imagery 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.