Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases ancient dread, a bone chilling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across top streaming platforms

One hair-raising occult terror film from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried malevolence when unfamiliar people become subjects in a supernatural conflict. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping tale of perseverance and primeval wickedness that will remodel horror this spooky time. Guided by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and moody screenplay follows five unknowns who snap to ensnared in a hidden shelter under the menacing influence of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a antiquated Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be ensnared by a cinematic presentation that blends bone-deep fear with spiritual backstory, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a enduring concept in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is challenged when the presences no longer develop from a different plane, but rather from their psyche. This mirrors the most sinister side of the players. The result is a relentless mind game where the tension becomes a unyielding struggle between divinity and wickedness.


In a forsaken wild, five figures find themselves stuck under the evil sway and infestation of a obscure female figure. As the protagonists becomes defenseless to withstand her manipulation, stranded and tracked by forces unimaginable, they are required to endure their emotional phantoms while the time coldly ticks onward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and relationships dissolve, urging each protagonist to evaluate their identity and the principle of free will itself. The intensity climb with every tick, delivering a fear-soaked story that fuses occult fear with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to awaken elemental fright, an entity that predates humanity, channeling itself through fragile psyche, and navigating a will that questions who we are when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra involved tapping into something deeper than fear. She is in denial until the spirit seizes her, and that pivot is harrowing because it is so internal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for horror fans beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—allowing customers in all regions can face this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has seen over 100,000 views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, offering the tale to a worldwide audience.


Join this visceral spiral into evil. Enter *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to witness these chilling revelations about the mind.


For bonus footage, making-of footage, and news from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit the official website.





Modern horror’s sea change: 2025 for genre fans domestic schedule fuses primeval-possession lore, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside IP aftershocks

From survival horror rooted in near-Eastern lore and stretching into series comebacks set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 appears poised to be the genre’s most multifaceted together with tactically planned year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio majors bookend the months with familiar IP, in parallel subscription platforms flood the fall with discovery plays together with mythic dread. On the festival side, the art-house flank is carried on the momentum of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, therefore 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule opens the year with a confident swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and those signature textures resurface: retro dread, trauma centered writing, with ghostly inner logic. The stakes escalate here, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, builds out the animatronic fear crew, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Plays: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

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

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived 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 nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a clever angle. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

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

Long Running Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming scare Year Ahead: entries, standalone ideas, And A hectic Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The current genre calendar loads immediately with a January bottleneck, before it runs through the summer months, and running into the holiday frame, braiding brand heft, new concepts, and strategic release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that transform these films into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has emerged as the consistent lever in studio slates, a genre that can grow when it performs and still safeguard the floor when it falls short. After the 2023 year reassured leaders that cost-conscious shockers can own cultural conversation, 2024 maintained heat 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 franchise continuations to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The takeaway for 2026 is a run that seems notably aligned across distributors, with clear date clusters, a blend of legacy names and untested plays, and a sharpened commitment on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and platforms.

Executives say the horror lane now works like a plug-and-play option on the grid. Horror can premiere on nearly any frame, create a clear pitch for previews and social clips, and outperform with ticket buyers that appear on Thursday nights and stay strong through the next pass if the offering pays off. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan shows belief in that equation. The slate begins with a busy January window, then taps spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a autumn push that connects to late October and into post-Halloween. The program also spotlights the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and platforms that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and widen at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is series management across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just rolling another entry. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a headline quality, whether that is a brandmark that flags a tonal shift or a casting move that threads a next film to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are favoring tactile craft, on-set effects and distinct locales. That convergence gives 2026 a healthy mix of familiarity and freshness, which is the formula for international play.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile titles that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the lead, steering it as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered character-centered film. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a memory-charged strategy without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. Watch for a push built on franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will pursue general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, somber, and premise-first: a grieving man purchases an machine companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the marketing arm likely to replay eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that interlaces intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are framed as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later trailer push that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-month date allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has consistently shown that a tactile, prosthetic-heavy mix can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Expect a red-band summer horror hit that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio places two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is calling a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can increase large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and period language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Platform lanes and windowing

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s releases move to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both first-week urgency and trial spikes in the tail. Prime Video pairs outside acquisitions with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival buys, locking in horror entries closer to launch and eventizing drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a hybrid of focused cinema runs and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 sequence with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to open out. That positioning has paid off for elevated genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception merits. Be ready for 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 together, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, 2026 tilts in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and auteur plays deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th have a peek here Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the deal build is assuring enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years help explain the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not block a same-day experiment from delivering when the brand was big. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror outperformed in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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, creates space for marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to keep materials circulating without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind the 2026 slate point to a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that foregrounds mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a tone piece that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta refresh that centers an original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature design and production design, which match well with expo activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the mix of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a peekaboo tease plan and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s digital partner mutates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 severe boss battle to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. 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 closed-door haunting narrative that pipes the unease through a young child’s volatile internal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-scale and A-list fronted occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that targets modern genre fads and true-crime manias. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family lashed to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survivalist horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and primordial menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three nuts-and-bolts forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming landings. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where midrange-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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, and framing 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

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is recognizable IP where it plays, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.