Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across major platforms

An eerie supernatural suspense story from literary architect / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient horror when unknowns become tools in a satanic contest. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking journey of continuance and forgotten curse that will alter genre cinema this ghoul season. Directed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and moody film follows five unacquainted souls who come to trapped in a hidden shelter under the dark influence of Kyra, a female lead possessed by a antiquated Old Testament spirit. Arm yourself to be immersed by a big screen experience that integrates soul-chilling terror with legendary tales, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a well-established foundation in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is challenged when the spirits no longer form externally, but rather from their core. This represents the malevolent shade of every character. The result is a emotionally raw moral showdown where the tension becomes a brutal confrontation between innocence and sin.


In a bleak backcountry, five figures find themselves caught under the fiendish effect and haunting of a obscure person. As the youths becomes unable to reject her dominion, marooned and preyed upon by spirits unnamable, they are cornered to encounter their core terrors while the countdown coldly strikes toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and associations fracture, prompting each person to reconsider their values and the integrity of liberty itself. The stakes climb with every instant, delivering a terror ride that merges mystical fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to uncover primal fear, an threat older than civilization itself, operating within inner turmoil, and examining a curse that erodes the self when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant evoking something past sanity. She is innocent until the control shifts, and that change is emotionally raw because it is so personal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing households across the world can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has gathered over strong viewer count.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, making the film to a worldwide audience.


Mark your calendar for this life-altering descent into hell. Face *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to survive these nightmarish insights about the human condition.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and promotions from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit the movie’s homepage.





American horror’s watershed moment: 2025 in focus U.S. calendar fuses ancient-possession motifs, art-house nightmares, in parallel with Franchise Rumbles

Ranging from survival horror drawn from mythic scripture through to IP renewals together with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the genre’s most multifaceted combined with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio majors plant stakes across the year with franchise anchors, as digital services front-load the fall with debut heat in concert with scriptural shivers. On the festival side, the art-house flank is drafting behind the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are surgical, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige fear returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with a bold swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. targeting mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

At summer’s close, Warner’s pipeline bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: 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. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: 70s style chill, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The next entry deepens the tale, thickens the animatronic pantheon, bridging teens and legacy players. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Digital Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

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

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Conceived 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 night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

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. That is a savvy move. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

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

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

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 hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

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

Long Running Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror resurges
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

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

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The coming 2026 spook Year Ahead: continuations, Originals, in tandem with A loaded Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The arriving horror calendar clusters at the outset with a January cluster, then stretches through midyear, and far into the holidays, blending IP strength, creative pitches, and shrewd counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, theatrical leads, and short-form initiatives that position these films into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has become the steady option in studio lineups, a genre that can grow when it resonates and still mitigate the drag when it doesn’t. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that efficiently budgeted pictures can steer cultural conversation, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and surprise hits. The tailwind rolled into 2025, where legacy revivals and critical darlings demonstrated there is a lane for many shades, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that play globally. The end result for 2026 is a roster that reads highly synchronized across the market, with obvious clusters, a combination of marquee IP and new concepts, and a sharpened attention on box-office windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and streaming.

Insiders argue the genre now serves as a utility player on the slate. The genre can premiere on numerous frames, generate a sharp concept for marketing and shorts, and exceed norms with viewers that turn out on preview nights and stay strong through the second weekend if the entry lands. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores belief in that equation. The year launches with a busy January window, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while reserving space for a October build that stretches into the Halloween corridor and into the next week. The grid also highlights the deeper integration of arthouse labels and home platforms that can platform and widen, ignite recommendations, and grow at the optimal moment.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across unified worlds and classic IP. Major shops are not just pushing another follow-up. They are trying to present connection with a specialness, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a tonal shift or a casting pivot that anchors a next entry to a early run. At the very same time, the creative teams behind the most anticipated originals are leaning into on-set craft, special makeup and grounded locations. That combination delivers the 2026 slate a strong blend of known notes and novelty, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount marks the early tempo with two headline releases that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, framing it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture conveys a classic-referencing framework without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in classic imagery, early character teases, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 reuniting, 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 alternative, this one will go after broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever leads pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man implements an machine companion that grows into a fatal companion. The date lines it up at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew strange in-person beats and bite-size content that blurs attachment and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title reveal to become an attention spike closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s work are treated as event films, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives the studio room to lead 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, hands-on effects mix can feel prestige on a lean spend. Position this as a red-band summer horror blast that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, keeping a bankable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is describing 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 mission to serve both core fans and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build materials around canon, and creature builds, elements that can lift PLF interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by immersive craft and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus has already locked the day for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. The Universal horror run window into copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a stair-step that optimizes both opening-weekend urgency and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves catalogue additions with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library curation, using editorial spots, horror hubs, and curated strips to lengthen the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps options open about originals and festival acquisitions, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and staging as events premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a dual-phase of focused cinema runs and swift platform pivots that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has signaled readiness to secure select projects with acclaimed directors or marquee packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 arc 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 appeal is straightforward: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, recalibrated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, guiding the film through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas window to broaden. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-first horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception merits. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, 2026 bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is diminishing returns. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the bundle is familiar enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps clarify the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that held distribution windows did not prevent a day-date try from winning when the brand was trusted. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror popped in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reorient and raise the stakes. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror signal a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that centers aura and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and craft spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that leans on mood Young & Cursed over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta refresh that centers an original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster work and world-building, which align with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. 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 atmospheric change-up amid heavier IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tone spread creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Late winter and spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can win the holiday when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Project briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s machine mate shifts into something dangerously intimate. 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: gothic-game 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 abrasive boss struggle to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power tilts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic this page Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fright, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting chiller that teases the chill of a child’s fragile interpretations. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-supported and marquee-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fervors. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a fresh family lashed to past horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: purposely secretive. 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 period-specific language and elemental dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why this year, why now

Three hands-on forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or migrated in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

The slot calculus is real. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound field, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand power where it counts, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.