Mythic Evil Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling chiller, arriving October 2025 across global platforms

This hair-raising unearthly nightmare movie from author / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an ancient dread when unfamiliar people become puppets in a fiendish ordeal. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of resilience and archaic horror that will transform the fear genre this Halloween season. Brought to life by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and tone-heavy tale follows five unacquainted souls who are stirred isolated in a hidden shack under the malignant grip of Kyra, a haunted figure controlled by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Anticipate to be drawn in by a filmic spectacle that weaves together visceral dread with folklore, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a legendary foundation in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is subverted when the beings no longer form from an outside force, but rather internally. This suggests the most primal facet of all involved. The result is a relentless spiritual tug-of-war where the intensity becomes a unforgiving fight between innocence and sin.


In a barren wild, five young people find themselves confined under the evil aura and curse of a enigmatic character. As the companions becomes defenseless to deny her command, cut off and hunted by terrors unnamable, they are required to acknowledge their worst nightmares while the final hour relentlessly ticks toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia surges and associations break, urging each protagonist to doubt their true nature and the idea of self-determination itself. The cost magnify with every fleeting time, delivering a paranormal ride that blends mystical fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon primal fear, an malevolence that existed before mankind, feeding on our fears, and highlighting a darkness that threatens selfhood when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was about accessing something unfamiliar to reason. She is in denial until the takeover begins, and that pivot is haunting because it is so deep.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing viewers worldwide can get immersed in this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its initial teaser, which has pulled in over strong viewer count.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, making the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Be sure to catch this bone-rattling journey into fear. Enter *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to face these fearful discoveries about existence.


For cast commentary, extra content, and reveals from those who lived it, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s decisive shift: 2025 U.S. release slate blends biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, alongside brand-name tremors

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales saturated with scriptural legend and extending to returning series as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered together with deliberate year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors hold down the year by way of signature titles, in tandem streaming platforms load up the fall with unboxed visions paired with ancestral chills. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is catching the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are calculated, and 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with an audacious swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner launches the swan song within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson resumes command, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma foregrounded, and eerie supernatural logic. The bar is raised this go, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, courting teens and the thirty something base. It opens in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Plays: Slim budgets, major punch

While the big screen favors titles you know, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by 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.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

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

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Dials to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror reemerges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to 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. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The next fear cycle: Sequels, non-franchise titles, paired with A hectic Calendar geared toward nightmares

Dek: The upcoming terror calendar lines up at the outset with a January cluster, from there unfolds through the warm months, and carrying into the year-end corridor, weaving series momentum, original angles, and well-timed release strategy. Studios and platforms are betting on mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and viral-minded pushes that elevate these pictures into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has become the sturdy move in studio calendars, a lane that can accelerate when it hits and still mitigate the exposure when it does not. After 2023 reminded leaders that responsibly budgeted pictures can command the zeitgeist, 2024 kept energy high with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The energy fed into the 2025 frame, where returns and premium-leaning entries proved there is capacity for diverse approaches, from returning installments to director-led originals that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a schedule that presents tight coordination across the market, with clear date clusters, a balance of brand names and new pitches, and a renewed strategy on exhibition windows that feed downstream value on PVOD and home streaming.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now functions as a fill-in ace on the programming map. The genre can debut on virtually any date, provide a sharp concept for teasers and short-form placements, and outstrip with crowds that appear on early shows and keep coming through the next pass if the release works. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm signals faith in that setup. The slate begins with a front-loaded January band, then targets spring into early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a late-year stretch that carries into the fright window and beyond. The schedule also spotlights the expanded integration of specialty distributors and platforms that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and widen at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across interlocking continuities and established properties. The companies are not just rolling another sequel. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that flags a new vibe or a ensemble decision that threads a next entry to a early run. At the alongside this, the creative teams behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing tactile craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That blend yields 2026 a strong blend of home base and shock, which is what works overseas.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate bets that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the directional approach announces a legacy-leaning strategy without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Expect a marketing push rooted in legacy iconography, intro reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined pushes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is crisp, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that unfolds into a murderous partner. The date locates it at the front of a front-loaded month, with marketing at Universal likely to renew odd public stunts and bite-size content that blurs attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are presented as event films, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to maximize 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a visceral, practical-effects forward mix can feel high-value on a tight budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror rush that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is framing as a reimagined 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 well-defined brief to serve both longtime followers and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build assets around lore, and creature effects, elements that can increase deluxe auditorium demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on meticulous craft and language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that elevates both FOMO and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video pairs third-party pickups with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using timely promos, horror hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival additions, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and staging as events premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for sustained usage when the genre conversation heats up.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, refined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the October weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has helped for craft-driven horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception allows. Keep an eye 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 concert, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their user base.

Balance of brands and originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate favors the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The caveat, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the team and cast is comforting enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

The last three-year set make sense of the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that maintained windows did not block a parallel release from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror popped in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and grow scope. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, enables marketing to bridge entries through protagonists and motifs and to sustain campaign assets without doldrums.

Production craft signals

The production chatter behind these films hint at a continued turn toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that foregrounds creep and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for textured sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in feature stories and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that withholds plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which fit with convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel primary. Look for trailers that spotlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in big rooms.

Release calendar overview

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 somber counterpoint 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 thick, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth carries.

Early-year through spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now hosts 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited information drops that put concept first.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s digital partner becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection 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 stumble upon a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss push to survive on a cut-off island as the pecking order shifts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to chill, founded on Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting scenario that leverages the horror of a child’s mercurial perceptions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-built and toplined supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, navigate here with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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: to be announced. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new family snared by ancient dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-first horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 elemental fear. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026, why now

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will cluster across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where low-to-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 capitalize on those pockets. 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, soundscape, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, new vision where it lands, 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.