Antediluvian Terror Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling thriller, bowing October 2025 across global platforms

A bone-chilling unearthly thriller from cinematographer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an age-old entity when outsiders become tools in a diabolical ordeal. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing narrative of struggle and archaic horror that will remodel genre cinema this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and claustrophobic motion picture follows five lost souls who come to trapped in a unreachable wooden structure under the malevolent sway of Kyra, a troubled woman consumed by a antiquated Old Testament spirit. Be prepared to be shaken by a visual ride that harmonizes primitive horror with folklore, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a recurring motif in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is inverted when the entities no longer form from elsewhere, but rather from their psyche. This symbolizes the shadowy side of each of them. The result is a bone-chilling psychological battle where the plotline becomes a merciless contest between purity and corruption.


In a remote natural abyss, five friends find themselves caught under the fiendish control and overtake of a haunted apparition. As the team becomes unable to evade her grasp, left alone and hunted by unknowns beyond reason, they are made to stand before their soulful dreads while the clock relentlessly edges forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety escalates and associations break, urging each participant to evaluate their personhood and the foundation of self-determination itself. The threat escalate with every tick, delivering a chilling narrative that integrates otherworldly suspense with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to evoke raw dread, an darkness from ancient eras, filtering through our weaknesses, and wrestling with a darkness that erodes the self when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra called for internalizing something outside normal anguish. She is ignorant until the takeover begins, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so internal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering users from coast to coast can survive this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its intro video, which has garnered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, giving access to the movie to viewers around the world.


Tune in for this visceral descent into hell. Join *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to uncover these haunting secrets about free will.


For teasers, set experiences, and press updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official digital haunt.





Modern horror’s watershed moment: the year 2025 U.S. lineup fuses myth-forward possession, indie terrors, plus series shake-ups

Beginning with last-stand terror rooted in ancient scripture to franchise returns plus pointed art-house angles, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex together with intentionally scheduled year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors plant stakes across the year with established lines, even as subscription platforms front-load the fall with discovery plays set against legend-coded dread. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the echoes from a record 2024 festival run. Since Halloween is the prized date, the other windows are mapped with care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, though in this cycle, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal banner leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. timed for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Steered by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, Warner’s schedule drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time, the stakes are raised, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The new chapter enriches the lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, speaking to teens and older millennials. It lands in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Plays: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale with Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed 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 overstuffed canon. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic lanes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching terror slate: next chapters, fresh concepts, paired with A hectic Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The fresh scare year clusters up front with a January wave, subsequently stretches through the warm months, and well into the holiday stretch, mixing brand heft, new concepts, and calculated alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into smart costs, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that transform these offerings into broad-appeal conversations.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror has become the most reliable counterweight in annual schedules, a lane that can scale when it breaks through and still mitigate the exposure when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year re-taught executives that mid-range scare machines can steer pop culture, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The carry carried into 2025, where returns and elevated films confirmed there is space for different modes, from returning installments to director-led originals that carry overseas. The upshot for 2026 is a schedule that appears tightly organized across companies, with planned clusters, a balance of established brands and untested plays, and a sharpened strategy on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Schedulers say the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the programming map. Horror can premiere on a wide range of weekends, offer a quick sell for marketing and reels, and over-index with fans that arrive on Thursday previews and sustain through the sophomore frame if the release pays off. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout exhibits certainty in that model. The calendar commences with a loaded January lineup, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a October build that connects to the Halloween frame and into early November. The map also features the greater integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can grow from platform, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A companion trend is brand curation across unified worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just producing another sequel. They are shaping as story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a new vibe or a casting pivot that threads a next film to a heyday. At the very same time, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are celebrating material texture, special makeup and concrete locations. That mix produces 2026 a solid mix of familiarity and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character-first story. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a fan-service aware mode without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Plan for a rollout anchored in classic imagery, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan hitting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens 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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format supporting quick reframes to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is simple, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that turns into a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to replay eerie street stunts and quick hits that fuses attachment and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His entries are sold as auteur events, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway offers Universal room to take 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a raw, practical-effects forward treatment can feel elevated on a middle budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror charge that pushes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent 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 the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is selling as a new foundation 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 directive to serve both franchise faithful and casuals. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around environmental design, and monster craft, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on obsessive craft and linguistic texture, this time focused on werewolf legend. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that elevates both premiere heat and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video blends acquired titles with international acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using curated hubs, fright rows, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix originals and festival additions, scheduling horror entries tight to release and making event-like releases with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of precision theatrical plays and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to increase reach. That positioning has worked well for director-led genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

Legacy titles versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on marquee value. The question, as ever, is staleness. The go-to fix is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is centering character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-inflected take from a emerging director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the deal build is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set make sense of the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not foreclose a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror over-performed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, allows marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to hold creative in the market without pause points.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror suggest a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in fan-con activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is jammed. 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 heftier brand moves. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the menu of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring load in summer. Scream 7 opens February this page 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited teasers that center concept over reveals.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss try to survive on a desolate island as the hierarchy tilts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

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 fright, built on Cronin’s physical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting piece that explores the unease of a child’s fragile point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-built and star-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that satirizes in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: to be announced. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why this year, why now

Three pragmatic forces inform this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on repeatable beats from test screenings, curated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, 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 maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, disciplined footprints, 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 grain, acoustics, and image-making 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 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.