Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A terrifying occult thriller from cinematographer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an mythic fear when strangers become tokens in a fiendish game. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching depiction of resistance and age-old darkness that will remodel horror this ghoul season. Crafted by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and claustrophobic screenplay follows five characters who are stirred sealed in a off-grid hideaway under the sinister power of Kyra, a tormented girl inhabited by a two-thousand-year-old biblical force. Be warned to be ensnared by a audio-visual presentation that unites visceral dread with arcane tradition, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a time-honored trope in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is turned on its head when the beings no longer manifest from beyond, but rather from their psyche. This illustrates the most sinister version of the protagonists. The result is a psychologically brutal inner struggle where the suspense becomes a relentless push-pull between light and darkness.


In a desolate terrain, five friends find themselves imprisoned under the malicious grip and infestation of a mysterious being. As the youths becomes vulnerable to break her command, detached and hunted by evils beyond reason, they are obligated to deal with their inner demons while the countdown ruthlessly moves toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and relationships break, prompting each cast member to reconsider their identity and the concept of autonomy itself. The risk magnify with every heartbeat, delivering a nightmarish journey that marries supernatural terror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to channel basic terror, an entity from ancient eras, manipulating mental cracks, and challenging a force that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra was centered on something beneath mortal despair. She is blind until the control shifts, and that turn is terrifying because it is so close.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for audience access beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure households everywhere can face this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original clip, which has seen over strong viewer count.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, exporting the fear to scare fans abroad.


Mark your calendar for this life-altering spiral into evil. Stream *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to confront these evil-rooted truths about the mind.


For featurettes, extra content, and announcements straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit the film’s website.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. release slate weaves old-world possession, Indie Shockers, plus brand-name tremors

Spanning survivor-centric dread grounded in near-Eastern lore and including brand-name continuations plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex together with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. major banners hold down the year with franchise anchors, while platform operators flood the fall with discovery plays in concert with archetypal fear. On another front, independent banners is riding the momentum of 2024’s record festival wave. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are calculated, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, instead in a current-day frame. Guided by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Led by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma as theme, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, grows the animatronic horror lineup, reaching teens and game grownups. It posts in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: Tight funds, wide impact

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Next comes Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative with Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No bloated mythology. No canon weight. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

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

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Dials to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror comes roaring back
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. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

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

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

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. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 genre year to come: Sequels, new stories, And A brimming Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek: The current genre cycle lines up from day one with a January crush, and then flows through the warm months, and well into the late-year period, balancing franchise firepower, novel approaches, and smart counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing tight budgets, box-office-first windows, and viral-minded pushes that pivot genre titles into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has emerged as the consistent play in studio calendars, a space that can spike when it breaks through and still buffer the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year reassured top brass that cost-conscious shockers can own cultural conversation, the following year held pace with director-led heat and surprise hits. The run moved into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects signaled there is capacity for varied styles, from legacy continuations to standalone ideas that carry overseas. The sum for 2026 is a calendar that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with mapped-out bands, a mix of known properties and untested plays, and a reinvigorated strategy on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on premium home window and home streaming.

Insiders argue the genre now works like a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can premiere on almost any weekend, provide a clean hook for previews and social clips, and overperform with moviegoers that show up on preview nights and hold through the follow-up frame if the release connects. Exiting a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 setup demonstrates conviction in that model. The year rolls out with a loaded January run, then primes spring and early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a late-year stretch that connects to the Halloween corridor and into the next week. The calendar also includes the ongoing integration of specialty arms and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, stoke social talk, and broaden at the right moment.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across shared universes and legacy IP. Studios are not just releasing another return. They are setting up threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a typeface approach that flags a re-angled tone or a talent selection that anchors a next film to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the high-profile originals are championing physical effects work, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a strong blend of known notes and surprise, which is how the films export.

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

Paramount fires first with two spotlight projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a baton pass and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a nostalgia-forward mode without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign built on recognizable motifs, character spotlights, and a tease get redirected here cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an synthetic partner that becomes a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo viral uncanny stunts and quick hits that hybridizes devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a name unveil to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His projects are marketed as creative events, with a minimalist tease and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, practical-effects forward mix can feel high-value on a tight budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror shot that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign creative around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can boost format premiums and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in historical precision and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that enhances both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries closer to launch and eventizing rollouts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. 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 flagged a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has paid off for auteur horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception warrants. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By weight, 2026 leans toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on legacy awareness. The question, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is elevating character and continuity navigate here in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf great post to read roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is comforting enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not preclude a hybrid test from working when the brand was big. In 2024, director-craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot consecutively, provides the means for marketing to link the films through personae and themes and to leave creative active without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate point to a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that spotlights texture and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta refresh that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature and environment design, which favor fan-con activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is crowded. 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 heftier brand moves. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the range of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May load in summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited information drops that favor idea over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s virtual companion becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 severe boss claw to survive on a remote island as the power balance inverts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

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 renewed take that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting narrative that manipulates the fright of a child’s mercurial perceptions. Rating: pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan entangled with ancient dread. Rating: TBA. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: pending. Production: underway. 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 language and elemental fear. Rating: undetermined. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three execution-level forces define this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest shareable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, aural design, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand equity where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, cut crisp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.