Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on global platforms

This frightening paranormal suspense story from creator / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an ancient entity when passersby become vehicles in a devilish struggle. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing episode of continuance and ancient evil that will revolutionize terror storytelling this scare season. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and gothic tale follows five young adults who emerge locked in a isolated shelter under the oppressive will of Kyra, a mysterious girl occupied by a ancient Old Testament spirit. Prepare to be ensnared by a motion picture adventure that integrates visceral dread with ancestral stories, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a legendary pillar in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is turned on its head when the beings no longer originate outside the characters, but rather deep within. This illustrates the malevolent shade of the group. The result is a gripping internal warfare where the plotline becomes a brutal battle between innocence and sin.


In a isolated wild, five young people find themselves sealed under the evil effect and grasp of a obscure female figure. As the survivors becomes defenseless to escape her rule, cut off and chased by forces impossible to understand, they are obligated to reckon with their soulful dreads while the countdown brutally moves toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia rises and bonds disintegrate, pressuring each individual to evaluate their self and the idea of conscious will itself. The tension amplify with every fleeting time, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that weaves together ghostly evil with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to extract elemental fright, an curse beyond time, emerging via inner turmoil, and dealing with a being that dismantles free will when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant channeling something far beyond human desperation. She is ignorant until the demon emerges, and that change is gut-wrenching because it is so intimate.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing fans internationally can get immersed in this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first preview, which has been viewed over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, exporting the fear to global fright lovers.


Don’t miss this unforgettable ride through nightmares. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to witness these dark realities about the psyche.


For exclusive trailers, set experiences, and news from the creators, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit the official digital haunt.





Current horror’s inflection point: 2025 in focus U.S. lineup fuses primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, in parallel with series shake-ups

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories grounded in mythic scripture all the way to brand-name continuations plus acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted along with carefully orchestrated year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios set cornerstones via recognizable brands, while premium streamers load up the fall with debut heat together with mythic dread. Across the art-house lane, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the afterglow of 2024’s record festival wave. Since Halloween is the prized date, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are disciplined, therefore 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium genre swings back

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with a headline swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Helmed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, Warner’s schedule launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The stakes escalate here, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a room scale body horror descent including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Shaped and helmed 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 the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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. It is an astute call. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Badges as Fuel

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 opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. 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. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. 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.

Key Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The 2026 scare release year: next chapters, fresh concepts, together with A brimming Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek The arriving scare calendar crowds from day one with a January glut, following that spreads through the mid-year, and running into the festive period, mixing franchise firepower, fresh ideas, and calculated counterplay. Distributors with platforms are embracing cost discipline, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that turn the slate’s entries into all-audience topics.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has become the bankable swing in release plans, a segment that can expand when it hits and still protect the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 showed studio brass that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can dominate mainstream conversation, the following year kept energy high with signature-voice projects and surprise hits. The energy extended into 2025, where resurrections and elevated films signaled there is an opening for a variety of tones, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a programming that shows rare alignment across the field, with clear date clusters, a spread of known properties and original hooks, and a sharpened emphasis on big-screen windows that drive downstream revenue on premium home window and streaming.

Marketers add the space now serves as a versatile piece on the rollout map. The genre can open on virtually any date, furnish a easy sell for promo reels and social clips, and exceed norms with fans that lean in on opening previews and keep coming through the next weekend if the picture delivers. Post a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm exhibits belief in that model. The slate gets underway with a busy January lineup, then leans on spring and early summer for contrast, while holding room for a September to October window that flows toward the Halloween frame and into early November. The calendar also reflects the stronger partnership of indie distributors and OTT outlets that can build gradually, grow buzz, and roll out at the timely point.

An added macro current is franchise tending across shared IP webs and heritage properties. Distribution groups are not just turning out another follow-up. They are moving to present continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a typeface approach that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that connects a new installment to a early run. At the in tandem, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to real-world builds, practical effects and specific settings. That alloy hands 2026 a smart balance of assurance and unexpected turns, which is how the films export.

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

Paramount fires first with two spotlight releases that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the core, steering it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance conveys a roots-evoking bent without looping the last two entries’ sibling arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by signature symbols, intro reveals, and a promo sequence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reboots 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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will foreground. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive mainstream recognition through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format supporting quick shifts to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three differentiated pushes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, sorrow-tinged, and big-hook: a grieving man activates an digital partner that becomes a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to iterate on off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that mixes devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels imp source in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a name unveil to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are framed as event films, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to saturate 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, collaborates 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 gnarly, on-set effects led treatment can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror shock that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is positioning as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build assets around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can increase deluxe auditorium demand and fan-culture participation.

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 extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by immersive craft and period language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Windowing plans in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s horror titles feed copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a sequence that enhances both opening-weekend urgency and subscriber lifts in the after-window. Prime Video blends acquired titles with cross-border buys and short theatrical plays when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library pulls, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about original films and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries near launch and turning into events arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a paired of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing 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 turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has indicated interest to take on select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 corridor with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, elevated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for director-led genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception supports. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is centering core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the deal build is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and early previews.

Comps from the last three years announce the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a movies beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they shift POV and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to link the films through character and theme and to leave creative active without lulls.

Production craft signals

The director conversations behind the 2026 slate telegraph a continued lean toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for textured sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta refresh that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster realization and design, which align with expo activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

How the year maps out

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps 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 serious, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Late winter and spring build the summer base. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a bridge slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Project briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: tone-first 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 tough boss fight to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order flips and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s material craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting tale that explores the unease of a child’s unreliable impressions. Rating: TBA. Production: finished. Positioning: major-studio and headline-actor led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that satirizes hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family caught in returning horrors. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward true survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: undetermined. Production: active. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and raw menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 lands now

Three operational forces organize this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and condensed timelines. 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming placements. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first quiet 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, aural design, and picture 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 Is Well Positioned

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand equity where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the screams sell the seats.