Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a hair raising feature, bowing October 2025 on top streamers

This unnerving occult suspense story from cinematographer / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an archaic entity when strangers become tools in a satanic conflict. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful journey of staying alive and prehistoric entity that will reconstruct genre cinema this harvest season. Realized by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and shadowy motion picture follows five strangers who snap to isolated in a wilderness-bound wooden structure under the hostile influence of Kyra, a cursed figure occupied by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Be prepared to be gripped by a big screen venture that intertwines bone-deep fear with timeless legends, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a well-established fixture in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is inverted when the beings no longer arise outside the characters, but rather internally. This embodies the most sinister corner of the group. The result is a harrowing inner struggle where the story becomes a perpetual contest between righteousness and malevolence.


In a haunting terrain, five adults find themselves trapped under the ghastly force and haunting of a uncanny woman. As the youths becomes incapable to fight her dominion, exiled and pursued by powers mind-shattering, they are cornered to face their soulful dreads while the seconds without pity ticks toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust builds and relationships break, pushing each person to reconsider their self and the nature of autonomy itself. The intensity grow with every instant, delivering a chilling narrative that harmonizes spiritual fright with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to channel instinctual horror, an evil older than civilization itself, feeding on psychological breaks, and dealing with a darkness that redefines identity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra asked for exploring something deeper than fear. She is unseeing until the demon emerges, and that change is eerie because it is so personal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for public screening beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that households across the world can survive this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its intro video, which has seen over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, delivering the story to global fright lovers.


Tune in for this mind-warping journey into fear. Explore *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to experience these unholy truths about our species.


For behind-the-scenes access, extra content, and social posts from the creators, follow @YACFilm across media channels and visit the official website.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season U.S. calendar weaves biblical-possession ideas, festival-born jolts, plus franchise surges

Running from grit-forward survival fare infused with near-Eastern lore to installment follow-ups in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned as well as blueprinted year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. top-tier distributors stabilize the year with established lines, while platform operators prime the fall with discovery plays in concert with ancestral chills. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

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

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule kicks off the frame with a risk-forward move: a refashioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Slated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

By late summer, the Warner Bros. banner sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: 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. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 a clever angle. No overstuffed canon. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

The Road Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The 2026 chiller season: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, and also A busy Calendar Built For chills

Dek The upcoming genre season builds up front with a January crush, from there extends through the mid-year, and continuing into the year-end corridor, fusing marquee clout, original angles, and tactical counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are betting on efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that transform these releases into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has emerged as the bankable option in programming grids, a vertical that can surge when it performs and still mitigate the drag when it falls short. After the 2023 year signaled to buyers that disciplined-budget pictures can shape pop culture, 2024 continued the surge with visionary-driven titles and sleeper breakouts. The momentum carried into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and filmmaker-prestige bets made clear there is a lane for diverse approaches, from continued chapters to non-IP projects that play globally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a schedule that appears tightly organized across companies, with planned clusters, a pairing of familiar brands and original hooks, and a renewed stance on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on premium home window and SVOD.

Distribution heads claim the genre now acts as a schedule utility on the grid. Horror can kick off on nearly any frame, create a clear pitch for marketing and short-form placements, and outstrip with audiences that line up on advance nights and continue through the second weekend if the movie hits. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup telegraphs faith in that approach. The year launches with a crowded January corridor, then exploits spring through early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a fall cadence that pushes into holiday-adjacent weekends and afterwards. The schedule also highlights the stronger partnership of specialized labels and SVOD players that can launch in limited release, build word of mouth, and expand at the sweet spot.

A reinforcing pattern is brand curation across connected story worlds and storied titles. The studios are not just releasing another entry. They are aiming to frame continuity with a occasion, whether that is a logo package that indicates a new vibe or a cast configuration that bridges a incoming chapter to a classic era. At the very same time, the creative leads behind the top original plays are doubling down on hands-on technique, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That combination provides 2026 a healthy mix of comfort and surprise, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee plays that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the lead, presenting it as both a relay and a return-to-roots character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative posture hints at a classic-referencing strategy without replaying the last two entries’ sibling arc. Anticipate a campaign leaning on brand visuals, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build broad awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever tops pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three defined plays. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, tragic, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an artificial companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to echo off-kilter promo beats and brief clips that melds longing and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a branding reveal to become an attention spike closer to the initial tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are marketed as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-October frame lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, hands-on effects execution can feel prestige on a tight budget. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror blast that leans into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, preserving a consistent supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is billing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both fans and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign pieces around mythos, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost format premiums and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by immersive craft and language, this time set against lycan legends. The label has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is favorable.

Streaming windows and tactics

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run head to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that amplifies both initial urgency and sub growth in the after-window. Prime Video blends licensed films with world buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival wins, timing horror entries closer to drop and eventizing drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a hybrid of precision releases and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has helped for director-led genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. 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 parallel, using small theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to position each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is spotlighting character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the assembly is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps make sense of the model. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not obstruct a dual release from performing when the brand was robust. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reorient and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 shot consecutively, allows marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind this slate foreshadow a continued lean toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and guild coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta reframe that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature and environment design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in premium houses.

How the year maps out

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid macro-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the menu of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late winter and spring build the horror summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited information drops that favor idea over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s synthetic partner shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 severe boss claw to survive on a remote island as the power balance reverses and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to fright, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting story that routes the horror through a kid’s wavering inner lens. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-grade and star-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satire sequel that teases modern genre fads and true crime fervors. this website Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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: TBD. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family linked to ancient dread. Rating: TBA. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward true survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: pending. Production: continuing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 historical diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 calendar favors 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces define this lineup. First, production that slowed or shifted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine bite-size scare clips from test screenings, select scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, horror which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

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

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, audio 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.

A Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is name recognition where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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, cut crisp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.