Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 across major platforms

One chilling paranormal suspense story from cinematographer / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an primeval curse when strangers become pawns in a dark maze. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving journey of continuance and forgotten curse that will redefine fear-driven cinema this fall. Guided by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and gothic feature follows five teens who snap to trapped in a wooded hideaway under the ominous influence of Kyra, a cursed figure claimed by a two-thousand-year-old sacred-era entity. Be warned to be immersed by a narrative ride that intertwines bone-deep fear with folklore, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a mainstay concept in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is flipped when the beings no longer originate from a different plane, but rather from deep inside. This illustrates the shadowy aspect of all involved. The result is a edge-of-seat internal warfare where the drama becomes a merciless tug-of-war between good and evil.


In a forsaken landscape, five adults find themselves stuck under the ominous sway and curse of a uncanny female presence. As the characters becomes powerless to fight her curse, disconnected and chased by presences beyond reason, they are driven to confront their greatest panics while the time relentlessly strikes toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease surges and teams collapse, driving each individual to rethink their self and the principle of personal agency itself. The stakes surge with every breath, delivering a nightmarish journey that merges demonic fright with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to tap into elemental fright, an presence that existed before mankind, operating within fragile psyche, and examining a darkness that threatens selfhood when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something rooted in terror. She is unseeing until the spirit seizes her, and that pivot is bone-chilling because it is so visceral.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving streamers worldwide can survive this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original clip, which has received over a viral response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, delivering the story to lovers of terror across nations.


Witness this visceral fall into madness. Watch *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to dive into these chilling revelations about mankind.


For cast commentary, set experiences, and alerts directly from production, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s inflection point: the 2025 season American release plan weaves primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, set against brand-name tremors

From pressure-cooker survival tales suffused with old testament echoes all the way to series comebacks as well as surgical indie voices, 2025 is tracking to be the genre’s most multifaceted plus carefully orchestrated year in years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. top-tier distributors lay down anchors with known properties, as premium streamers flood the fall with debut heat alongside mythic dread. In the indie lane, horror’s indie wing is riding the uplift from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are surgical, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. arriving mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

At summer’s close, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Then comes 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: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, and eerie supernatural logic. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The return delves further into myth, broadens the animatronic terror cast, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story starring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a calculated bet. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. 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.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

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 returns in late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Fall stack and winter swing card

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 genre Year Ahead: brand plays, universe starters, together with A packed Calendar Built For nightmares

Dek: The incoming horror season loads up front with a January wave, following that carries through summer corridors, and continuing into the year-end corridor, blending marquee clout, original angles, and tactical counterplay. Studios and streamers are betting on right-sized spends, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that elevate the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the bankable play in release plans, a category that can grow when it performs and still mitigate the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 demonstrated to leaders that mid-range genre plays can command the discourse, the following year continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The carry flowed into 2025, where resurrections and premium-leaning entries proved there is demand for varied styles, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that carry overseas. The upshot for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across players, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of known properties and untested plays, and a sharpened stance on exclusive windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and digital services.

Insiders argue the genre now acts as a wildcard on the release plan. Horror can bow on most weekends, supply a tight logline for spots and shorts, and exceed norms with patrons that come out on advance nights and return through the second frame if the feature pays off. Exiting a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 plan telegraphs assurance in that setup. The calendar rolls out with a weighty January lineup, then primes spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while keeping space for a fall cadence that reaches into holiday-adjacent weekends and beyond. The arrangement also spotlights the tightening integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can platform a title, generate chatter, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is legacy care across connected story worlds and storied titles. Studio teams are not just releasing another continuation. They are aiming to frame lineage with a specialness, whether that is a graphic identity that announces a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that links a new entry to a classic era. At the same time, the filmmakers behind the top original plays are leaning into tactile craft, practical effects and vivid settings. That fusion yields the 2026 slate a strong blend of trust and freshness, which is the formula for international play.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two spotlight pushes that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the front, angling it as both a handoff and a rootsy character-focused installment. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture telegraphs a heritage-honoring angle without repeating the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave centered on brand visuals, first-look character reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will seek wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three differentiated releases. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is clean, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man installs an intelligent companion that becomes a harmful mate. The date sets it at the front of a thick month, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo eerie street stunts and bite-size content that interlaces affection and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a final title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are presented as filmmaker events, with a concept-forward tease and a next wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a gritty, practical-first mix can feel prestige on a tight budget. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror rush that centers overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has recalibrated 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 re-enters in what the studio is framing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both fans and curious audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around canon, and creature work, elements that can increase deluxe auditorium demand and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a cadence that optimizes both initial urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival wins, timing horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around rollouts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for sustained usage when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 sequence with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, updated 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 hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the back half.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the December frame to expand. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception merits. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By proportion, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The question, as ever, is brand wear. The preferred tactic is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is foregrounding character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Rolling three-year comps frame the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date move from performing when the brand was potent. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in premium formats. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 in tandem, enables marketing to interlace chapters through protagonists and motifs and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The craft rooms behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued shift toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. great post to read Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces 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 emphasizes unease and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and guild coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and produces shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta reframe that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster realization and design, which align with fan conventions and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that underscore pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is packed. 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 foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month ends 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 legit, but the tone spread creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Pre-summer months seed summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies 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 worked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a opaque tease strategy and limited asset reveals that put concept first.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

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 take on a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to 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 grieving man’s digital partner becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a altering 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 unyielding boss battle to survive on a remote island as the chain of command turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. 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 home-set haunting setup that frames the panic through a youth’s wavering perspective. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed and star-fronted occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A comic send-up that targets contemporary horror memes and true crime fervors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-first horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBA. Production: active. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and primordial menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 stealth-hit search 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound field, 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. 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 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.