Antediluvian Evil Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising chiller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

An unnerving spiritual suspense story from writer / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an mythic dread when strangers become conduits in a devilish trial. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing episode of resistance and archaic horror that will resculpt scare flicks this Halloween season. Brought to life by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and cinematic fearfest follows five characters who suddenly rise caught in a off-grid wooden structure under the ominous manipulation of Kyra, a troubled woman haunted by a millennia-old holy text monster. Be prepared to be immersed by a theatrical ride that merges bone-deep fear with legendary tales, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a iconic element in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is flipped when the entities no longer emerge from an outside force, but rather within themselves. This depicts the most hidden facet of every character. The result is a intense spiritual tug-of-war where the story becomes a unyielding fight between purity and corruption.


In a desolate backcountry, five individuals find themselves stuck under the sinister presence and control of a secretive person. As the youths becomes defenseless to combat her control, exiled and attacked by presences ungraspable, they are driven to acknowledge their darkest emotions while the countdown brutally winds toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread escalates and friendships break, demanding each soul to reconsider their personhood and the nature of decision-making itself. The risk accelerate with every instant, delivering a scare-fueled ride that merges otherworldly panic with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to channel core terror, an evil before modern man, embedding itself in emotional fractures, and dealing with a presence that tests the soul when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant evoking something far beyond human desperation. She is uninformed until the demon emerges, and that conversion is gut-wrenching because it is so deep.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for horror fans beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that watchers worldwide can watch this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its release of trailer #1, which has attracted over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, making the film to global fright lovers.


Don’t miss this life-altering journey into fear. Watch *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these chilling revelations about the human condition.


For cast commentary, behind-the-scenes content, and social posts from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across media channels and visit the official movie site.





U.S. horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 season domestic schedule braids together myth-forward possession, indie terrors, together with brand-name tremors

From survival horror drawn from primordial scripture through to IP renewals paired with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 looks like the richest paired with blueprinted year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Top studios hold down the year via recognizable brands, as streamers flood the fall with debut heat in concert with old-world menace. In parallel, the independent cohort is drafting behind the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal Pictures lights the fuse with a confident swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Guided by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. set for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Guided 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. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: 70s style chill, trauma centered writing, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The follow up digs further into canon, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is destined for a fall landing.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by 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. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

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

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed 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.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

What 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 pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror retakes ground
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new fright lineup: follow-ups, original films, together with A packed Calendar engineered for frights

Dek The brand-new terror cycle crowds up front with a January glut, and then carries through the mid-year, and far into the winter holidays, combining franchise firepower, inventive spins, and well-timed calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that convert horror entries into cross-demo moments.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has emerged as the steady counterweight in annual schedules, a segment that can scale when it clicks and still hedge the drawdown when it underperforms. After the 2023 year re-taught studio brass that modestly budgeted entries can command cultural conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and stealth successes. The upswing carried into 2025, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is appetite for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to director-led originals that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across the major shops, with planned clusters, a equilibrium of established brands and first-time concepts, and a sharpened commitment on box-office windows that power the aftermarket on premium home window and subscription services.

Buyers contend the space now behaves like a flex slot on the calendar. The genre can launch on open real estate, supply a clean hook for marketing and social clips, and lead with viewers that respond on opening previews and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the offering works. Exiting a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates confidence in that model. The year commences with a crowded January corridor, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a October build that runs into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The map also features the greater integration of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and expand at the right moment.

A notable top-line trend is series management across ongoing universes and long-running brands. Studio teams are not just pushing another follow-up. They are shaping as brand continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a reframed mood or a casting choice that anchors a latest entry to a early run. At the meanwhile, the filmmakers behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating hands-on technique, on-set effects and concrete locations. That combination hands 2026 a robust balance of assurance and discovery, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two front-of-slate moves that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the focus, presenting it as both a handoff and a rootsy character-first story. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach signals a classic-referencing angle without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on recognizable motifs, character-first teases, and a rollout cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also dusts off 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will build general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick redirects to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three discrete bets. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is clean, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that unfolds into a deadly partner. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s team likely to revisit odd public stunts and brief clips that blurs affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as 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 permits a final title to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele titles are branded as auteur events, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a blood-soaked, hands-on effects style can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror hit that emphasizes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio mounts two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, sustaining a steady supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is calling a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around canon, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on historical precision and textual fidelity, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus Features has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate shift to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that fortifies both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances licensed films with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library curation, using prominent placements, fright rows, and curated strips to prolong the run on the 2026 genre total. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival snaps, timing horror entries near launch and framing as events debuts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and fast windowing that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 lane with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is tight: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, recalibrated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a standard theatrical run for the title, an positive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, stewarding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to scale. That positioning has been successful for elevated genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception encourages. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

IP versus fresh ideas

By volume, 2026 leans toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate marquee value. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is bringing forward character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is promising a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the deal build is recognizable enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Recent comps illuminate the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not deter a hybrid test from hitting when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reorient and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, allows marketing to connect the chapters through cast and motif and to sustain campaign assets without lulls.

Production craft signals

The production chatter behind these films forecast a continued turn toward practical, location-rooted 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. Marketing will likely that foregrounds aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft features before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta recalibration that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature execution and sets, which play well in convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that shine in top rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is busy. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tone spread opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Early-year through spring tee up summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late-season stretch leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. 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 working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s virtual companion escalates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: aura-driven 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 fight to survive on a cut-off island as the pecking order shifts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to fear, anchored by Cronin’s practical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting story that manipulates the chill of a child’s unreliable POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-financed and name-above-title supernatural mood piece.

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 targets contemporary horror memes and true crime fascinations. Rating: pending. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 surges, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a fresh family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBD. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 language and elemental dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, freeing space 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 stack across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, 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 materiality, audio 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine have a peek here of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, fresh vision where it counts, 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, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.