Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on global platforms

An bone-chilling metaphysical thriller from screenwriter / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an primordial curse when strangers become victims in a diabolical struggle. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching saga of resilience and ancient evil that will alter the fear genre this season. Created by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody feature follows five figures who find themselves isolated in a wooded lodge under the malignant control of Kyra, a female lead inhabited by a two-thousand-year-old scriptural evil. Brace yourself to be gripped by a motion picture outing that intertwines raw fear with mythic lore, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a legendary narrative in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is turned on its head when the demons no longer manifest outside the characters, but rather inside them. This represents the most terrifying dimension of every character. The result is a riveting psychological battle where the plotline becomes a constant confrontation between virtue and vice.


In a barren no-man's-land, five individuals find themselves contained under the fiendish influence and curse of a unidentified apparition. As the team becomes defenseless to escape her rule, abandoned and pursued by unknowns impossible to understand, they are cornered to wrestle with their raw vulnerabilities while the final hour without pause winds toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread deepens and friendships disintegrate, compelling each participant to examine their true nature and the principle of free will itself. The intensity grow with every beat, delivering a chilling narrative that integrates supernatural terror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to awaken basic terror, an darkness beyond recorded history, feeding on mental cracks, and wrestling with a will that tests the soul when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra required summoning something deeper than fear. She is in denial until the haunting manifests, and that pivot is gut-wrenching because it is so deep.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing viewers no matter where they are can face this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has seen over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, spreading the horror to thrill-seekers globally.


Do not miss this heart-stopping ride through nightmares. Join *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to explore these nightmarish insights about the mind.


For director insights, production news, and reveals via the production team, follow @YACFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit our horror hub.





Horror’s tipping point: the year 2025 U.S. Slate integrates ancient-possession motifs, indie terrors, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Moving from life-or-death fear infused with old testament echoes and including series comebacks together with acutely observed indies, 2025 is coalescing into the most stratified plus intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. leading studios stabilize the year with franchise anchors, as premium streamers prime the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with old-world menace. On the festival side, indie storytellers is surfing the backdraft from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween holding the peak, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, thus 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

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

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a confident swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Guided by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: vintage toned fear, trauma centered writing, plus otherworld rules that chill. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The new chapter enriches the lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a tight space body horror vignette anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, 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.

Heritage Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for 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
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Season Ahead: 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 must claw for air. Expect one or more 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. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 spook lineup: entries, filmmaker-first projects, And A loaded Calendar tailored for screams

Dek: The incoming terror cycle builds from the jump with a January bottleneck, subsequently unfolds through summer corridors, and far into the late-year period, braiding brand equity, untold stories, and savvy counterplay. The major players are focusing on efficient budgets, theatrical leads, and buzz-forward plans that position genre titles into cross-demo moments.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has grown into the sturdy release in studio lineups, a pillar that can expand when it connects and still buffer the liability when it underperforms. After 2023 demonstrated to strategy teams that cost-conscious shockers can lead the zeitgeist, the following year kept the drumbeat going with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is room for varied styles, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that travel well. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a run that looks unusually coordinated across the major shops, with intentional bunching, a combination of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a recommitted stance on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on premium rental and platforms.

Studio leaders note the category now acts as a fill-in ace on the schedule. Horror can roll out on virtually any date, deliver a simple premise for previews and social clips, and overperform with ticket buyers that respond on early shows and keep coming through the next pass if the entry lands. Coming out of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 configuration signals certainty in that setup. The year commences with a heavy January run, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a fall cadence that carries into the fright window and into post-Halloween. The layout also shows the greater integration of indie distributors and platforms that can nurture a platform play, generate chatter, and widen at the timely point.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across unified worlds and established properties. Major shops are not just producing another chapter. They are shaping as brand continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a tonal shift or a cast configuration that binds a new installment to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are prioritizing practical craft, on-set effects and distinct locales. That fusion offers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and invention, which is how the films export.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative posture signals a legacy-leaning angle without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Count on a promo wave centered on signature symbols, character previews, and a trailer cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three discrete bets. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tidy, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that unfolds into a killer companion. The date locates it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror odd public stunts and short-cut promos that interweaves affection and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an earned moment closer to the first trailer. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His entries are set up as director events, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, on-set effects led execution can feel deluxe on a tight budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror surge that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is framing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around lore, and creature effects, elements that can increase PLF interest and convention buzz.

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 advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by rigorous craft and historical speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is glowing.

Platform lanes and windowing

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a sequence that enhances both debut momentum and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video blends licensed films with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in archive usage, using prominent placements, October hubs, and featured rows to prolong the run on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival buys, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and making event-like go-lives with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a hybrid of tailored theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that translates talk to trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with name filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 pipeline with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clean: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, modernized for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy useful reference is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then using the holiday slot to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception justifies. Expect 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 hand in hand, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their user base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, 2026 is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap marquee value. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The standing approach is to present each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing 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 auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

The last three-year set help explain the template. In 2023, a exclusive window model that observed windows did not hamper a parallel release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, director-craft horror rose in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and increase ambition. 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 filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that leans on aura and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-correct language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature work and production design, which play well in expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that explode in larger rooms.

From winter to holidays

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 gloomy counterbalance amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the tone spread gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring stage summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can thrive 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 cycled through premium screens.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that favor idea over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card use.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s artificial companion becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: news The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the chain of command inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s tactile craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 closed-door haunting story that teases the unease of a child’s inconsistent perspective. Rating: pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-crafted and star-fronted supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that pokes at modern genre fads and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 ignites, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a young family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing. 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-accurate language and bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or migrated in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter timelines. 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 dark-horse hit 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 rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.