Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on top streamers

This blood-curdling ghostly horror tale from dramatist / director Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an primordial dread when unrelated individuals become puppets in a demonic ceremony. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking journey of resistance and old world terror that will resculpt the fear genre this fall. Helmed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and emotionally thick screenplay follows five teens who suddenly rise isolated in a far-off house under the dark influence of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a timeless biblical force. Be prepared to be seized by a cinematic outing that melds raw fear with mythic lore, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a legendary tradition in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is subverted when the spirits no longer appear from beyond, but rather from deep inside. This illustrates the most terrifying part of the group. The result is a harrowing inner struggle where the drama becomes a intense conflict between moral forces.


In a forsaken backcountry, five characters find themselves stuck under the dark influence and infestation of a unidentified entity. As the youths becomes paralyzed to break her control, cut off and attacked by terrors indescribable, they are made to wrestle with their soulful dreads while the time without pity winds toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion builds and associations fracture, driving each person to evaluate their personhood and the concept of decision-making itself. The stakes intensify with every minute, delivering a chilling narrative that weaves together occult fear with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to awaken raw dread, an spirit older than civilization itself, manipulating inner turmoil, and exposing a presence that strips down our being when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was about accessing something outside normal anguish. She is unseeing until the takeover begins, and that transformation is shocking because it is so unshielded.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring viewers worldwide can witness this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has racked up over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, giving access to the movie to a global viewership.


Tune in for this unforgettable path of possession. Face *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to uncover these evil-rooted truths about mankind.


For cast commentary, special features, and social posts from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit the official movie site.





Current horror’s sea change: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule weaves biblical-possession ideas, signature indie scares, set against series shake-ups

Kicking off with survivor-centric dread suffused with mythic scripture and including IP renewals as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 is lining up as the richest as well as deliberate year for the modern era.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses set cornerstones with established lines, simultaneously OTT services front-load the fall with debut heat paired with archetypal fear. At the same time, independent banners is riding the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures sets the tone with an audacious swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. arriving mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson returns, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma centered writing, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters lean on names and sequels, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a two hander body horror spiral starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

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. That is a savvy move. No bloated canon. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

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.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops 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, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Signals and Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

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

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 scare year to come: Sequels, original films, as well as A jammed Calendar calibrated for screams

Dek: The brand-new horror calendar loads from day one with a January traffic jam, following that rolls through the mid-year, and straight through the late-year period, balancing brand heft, original angles, and calculated alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into tight budgets, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that position these pictures into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has solidified as the consistent tool in distribution calendars, a segment that can expand when it hits and still limit the liability when it underperforms. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that lean-budget shockers can own cultural conversation, 2024 maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries showed there is a lane for a variety of tones, from returning installments to one-and-done originals that translate worldwide. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a roster that shows rare alignment across the market, with strategic blocks, a combination of legacy names and novel angles, and a re-energized commitment on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and home platforms.

Buyers contend the category now behaves like a versatile piece on the slate. Horror can kick off on open real estate, offer a quick sell for previews and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with moviegoers that lean in on previews Thursday and return through the second weekend if the entry delivers. Exiting a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 mapping reflects faith in that setup. The slate launches with a loaded January lineup, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a fall corridor that extends to the fright window and afterwards. The schedule also reflects the deeper integration of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and scale up at the precise moment.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and classic IP. The companies are not just making another next film. They are seeking to position lineage with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that announces a new tone or a cast configuration that anchors a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the most watched originals are championing hands-on technique, on-set effects and specific settings. That mix affords the 2026 slate a confident blend of trust and discovery, which is how the films export.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, steering it as both a cross-generational handoff and a back-to-basics character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the tonal posture conveys a classic-referencing mode without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push fueled by brand visuals, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, news a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will seek broad awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format supporting quick redirects to whatever dominates pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three discrete strategies. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is clean, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man adopts an algorithmic mate that mutates into a lethal partner. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to replay odd public stunts and short reels that melds longing and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an headline beat closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s releases are treated as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal to maximize 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gnarly, prosthetic-heavy treatment can feel cinematic on a disciplined budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror hit that pushes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is framing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both players and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around narrative world, and monster design, elements that can fuel premium format interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that maximizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with world buys and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about original films and festival snaps, confirming horror entries closer to launch and framing as events go-lives with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a hybrid of targeted cinema placements and speedy platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a discrete basis. The platform has proven amenable to acquire select projects with accomplished filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clear: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, modernized for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the October weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, guiding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday corridor to widen. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-driven genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By tilt, 2026 tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to market each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is bringing forward character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the cast-creatives package is known enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

Comparable trends from recent years contextualize the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not prevent a simultaneous release test from succeeding when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they angle differently and increase ambition. 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 shot back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to relate entries through cast and motif and to sustain campaign assets without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind the year’s horror hint at a continued shift toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that elevates unease and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft coverage before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which are ideal for fan-con activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that center pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. 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 atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month closes 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 meaningful, but the variety of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited information drops that put concept first.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner evolves into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie 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 stumble upon a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 difficult boss fight to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 closed-door haunting scenario that routes the horror through a minor’s uneven personal vantage. Rating: TBD. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-built and star-led eerie 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 parody reboot that riffs on modern genre fads and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new household lashed to long-buried horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for this content late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: continuing. 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 era-accurate language and bone-deep menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three grounded forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, 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 compound over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and camera work 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand power where it counts, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the frights sell the seats.