Mythic Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

This eerie metaphysical scare-fest from creator / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an age-old malevolence when strangers become puppets in a supernatural trial. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing episode of resistance and archaic horror that will revolutionize the horror genre this October. Brought to life by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and shadowy feature follows five individuals who awaken stranded in a wilderness-bound wooden structure under the ominous grip of Kyra, a cursed figure inhabited by a millennia-old Old Testament spirit. Be warned to be hooked by a narrative spectacle that fuses visceral dread with ancient myths, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a long-standing motif in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is twisted when the presences no longer develop outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This echoes the most sinister facet of the cast. The result is a intense psychological battle where the events becomes a perpetual struggle between innocence and sin.


In a wilderness-stricken outland, five campers find themselves caught under the possessive influence and haunting of a obscure person. As the survivors becomes incapacitated to resist her will, stranded and stalked by spirits indescribable, they are obligated to encounter their greatest panics while the seconds coldly winds toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia escalates and links fracture, pushing each member to reflect on their values and the concept of personal agency itself. The threat mount with every heartbeat, delivering a nightmarish journey that blends supernatural terror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to awaken ancestral fear, an evil older than civilization itself, influencing psychological breaks, and testing a curse that strips down our being when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra needed manifesting something unfamiliar to reason. She is uninformed until the haunting manifests, and that metamorphosis is haunting because it is so emotional.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be available for digital release beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing customers worldwide can watch this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its intro video, which has pulled in over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, exporting the fear to thrill-seekers globally.


Witness this mind-warping exploration of dread. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to witness these chilling revelations about free will.


For director insights, special features, and updates from those who lived it, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





Current horror’s inflection point: 2025 American release plan Mixes primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, alongside series shake-ups

Across survival horror suffused with near-Eastern lore and onward to franchise returns alongside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the most complex along with strategic year for the modern era.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. major banners hold down the year with established lines, even as OTT services stack the fall with unboxed visions as well as old-world menace. At the same time, festival-forward creators is fueled by the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween holding the peak, the other windows are mapped with care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and now, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with a bold swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Helmed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline rolls out the capstone within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, builds out the animatronic fear crew, courting teens and the thirty something base. It hits in December, securing the winter cap.

Streamer Exclusives: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror chamber piece anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with 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.

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

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It looks like sharp programming. No heavy handed lore. No series drag. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Franchise Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, from Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Emerging Currents

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning 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 symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Fall stack and winter swing card

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The next Horror slate: follow-ups, original films, and also A hectic Calendar designed for frights

Dek: The current horror year crams immediately with a January cluster, subsequently flows through summer, and straight through the holidays, mixing marquee clout, new voices, and smart offsets. Studios and streamers are betting on tight budgets, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that turn these pictures into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has become the sturdy play in studio slates, a corner that can expand when it performs and still hedge the liability when it falls short. After 2023 signaled to greenlighters that disciplined-budget genre plays can drive the zeitgeist, 2024 continued the surge with auteur-driven buzzy films and word-of-mouth wins. The trend carried into the 2025 frame, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets highlighted there is room for a variety of tones, from ongoing IP entries to non-IP projects that carry overseas. The aggregate for 2026 is a lineup that reads highly synchronized across players, with mapped-out bands, a blend of familiar brands and fresh ideas, and a tightened stance on box-office windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium rental and platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now slots in as a versatile piece on the calendar. The genre can arrive on open real estate, create a grabby hook for spots and social clips, and outstrip with demo groups that arrive on advance nights and sustain through the subsequent weekend if the title lands. Post a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 mapping telegraphs comfort in that dynamic. The slate gets underway with a front-loaded January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for balance, while keeping space for a fall corridor that reaches into the Halloween frame and into post-Halloween. The program also illustrates the stronger partnership of boutique distributors and home platforms that can launch in limited release, fuel WOM, and expand at the precise moment.

Another broad trend is series management across shared universes and classic IP. The studios are not just mounting another installment. They are setting up brand continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a art treatment that signals a refreshed voice or a cast configuration that connects a upcoming film to a classic era. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the most watched originals are favoring in-camera technique, practical effects and location-forward worlds. That mix delivers 2026 a lively combination of recognition and freshness, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

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’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, positioning the film as both a succession moment and a heritage-centered character-centered film. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a fan-service aware bent without retreading the last two entries’ family thread. Anticipate a campaign stacked with classic imagery, intro reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches 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 as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick reframes to whatever owns the conversation that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, heartbroken, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an intelligent companion that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to replay strange in-person beats and micro spots that interweaves longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a official title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are presented as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a second beat that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date opens a lane to fill 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a raw, hands-on effects aesthetic can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror rush that embraces international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, keeping a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is marketing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify format premiums and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in immersive craft and historical speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. The distributor has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a stair-step that enhances both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with global acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library engagement, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and featured rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival snaps, dating horror entries closer to drop and making event-like launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a paired of limited theatrical footprints and rapid platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a discrete basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to invest in select projects with award winners or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, modernized for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical rollout for the title, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to increase reach. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception merits. Anticipate 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 hand in hand, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchises versus originals

By skew, 2026 skews toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to pitch each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is grounded enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years announce the method. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel new when they angle differently and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot consecutively, creates space for marketing to connect the chapters through relationships and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The craft rooms behind 2026 horror point to a continued turn toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that leans on tone and tension rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and earns shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-aware reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature design and production design, which align with convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

February through May tee up summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary navigate here Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

End of summer through fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that put concept first.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card spend.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s algorithmic partner grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss try to survive on a rugged island as the power dynamic reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fear, based on Cronin’s physical craft and creeping 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 closed-door haunting setup that frames the panic through a kid’s wavering subjective view. Rating: rating pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: major-studio and headline-actor led paranormal 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 send-up revival that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 flares, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further opens again, with a another family lashed to lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survivalist horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBD. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or shuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. 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 drops. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, making room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 modest-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 sleeper overperformer 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a tasting table, 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 turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, tight deployments, 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 imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.