Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient dread, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

One spine-tingling occult fright fest from author / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an primeval fear when drifters become subjects in a dark ordeal. Going live October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving portrayal of endurance and ancient evil that will revolutionize the horror genre this scare season. Guided by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and immersive feature follows five individuals who find themselves imprisoned in a secluded shack under the menacing grip of Kyra, a cursed figure controlled by a ancient biblical demon. Ready yourself to be enthralled by a big screen experience that melds bodily fright with spiritual backstory, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a legendary pillar in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is challenged when the entities no longer descend from external sources, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the darkest shade of the players. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the story becomes a unyielding contest between virtue and vice.


In a haunting outland, five friends find themselves contained under the possessive influence and control of a enigmatic female figure. As the characters becomes helpless to combat her rule, detached and tormented by powers unimaginable, they are compelled to endure their inner horrors while the seconds unforgivingly draws closer toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia rises and connections disintegrate, prompting each soul to rethink their personhood and the integrity of independent thought itself. The danger magnify with every passing moment, delivering a horror experience that combines occult fear with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to tap into elemental fright, an threat that predates humanity, working through mental cracks, and highlighting a spirit that peels away humanity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra was centered on something outside normal anguish. She is innocent until the haunting manifests, and that transformation is emotionally raw because it is so close.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing users in all regions can be part of this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original promo, which has earned over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, presenting the nightmare to global fright lovers.


Do not miss this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Stream *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to survive these evil-rooted truths about inner darkness.


For teasers, production news, and press updates from those who lived it, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official digital haunt.





Today’s horror pivotal crossroads: 2025 for genre fans U.S. calendar integrates primeval-possession lore, festival-born jolts, in parallel with Franchise Rumbles

Beginning with grit-forward survival fare steeped in mythic scripture and onward to installment follow-ups and surgical indie voices, 2025 is lining up as horror’s most layered as well as precision-timed year in years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, as SVOD players flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs alongside ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, festival-forward creators is catching the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are exacting, therefore 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: The Return of Prestige Fear

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp begins the calendar with a bold swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Helmed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re teams, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma as narrative engine, plus otherworld rules that chill. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It drops in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a smart play. No bloated mythology. No sequel clutter. 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.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is 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, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror retakes ground
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The new chiller calendar year ahead: brand plays, universe starters, plus A hectic Calendar designed for screams

Dek: The upcoming scare calendar stacks from day one with a January bottleneck, from there stretches through the mid-year, and running into the holiday frame, balancing brand heft, inventive spins, and data-minded alternatives. Distributors with platforms are committing to smart costs, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that transform genre releases into national conversation.

How the genre looks for 2026

The genre has become the dependable lever in studio lineups, a vertical that can break out when it hits and still cushion the exposure when it misses. After the 2023 year showed strategy teams that cost-conscious scare machines can drive pop culture, 2024 extended the rally with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The upswing carried into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and arthouse crossovers made clear there is an opening for a spectrum, from franchise continuations to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The sum for 2026 is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across studios, with obvious clusters, a harmony of known properties and new pitches, and a revived emphasis on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Executives say the category now behaves like a flex slot on the programming map. Horror can premiere on open real estate, create a easy sell for teasers and short-form placements, and lead with fans that line up on advance nights and continue through the next pass if the release fires. After a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern exhibits assurance in that setup. The year launches with a front-loaded January stretch, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a autumn push that carries into holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The arrangement also illustrates the expanded integration of specialty arms and streamers that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and move wide at the proper time.

An added macro current is brand management across connected story worlds and heritage properties. Studios are not just producing another installment. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a new vibe or a lead change that bridges a new entry to a initial period. At the in tandem, the creative leads behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing real-world builds, physical gags and concrete locations. That mix provides the 2026 slate a confident blend of comfort and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the artistic posture suggests a heritage-honoring campaign without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Watch for a push anchored in classic imagery, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an synthetic partner that turns into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that melds companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are branded as director events, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-month date opens a lane to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a raw, practical-first strategy can feel big 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 impressively deep. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, extending a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is framing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around universe detail, and monster craft, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by careful craft and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that expands both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video combines licensed content with global originals and limited cinema engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival deals, securing horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 track with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the September weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception supports. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using boutique theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, the click to read more 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to position each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-inflected take from a emerging director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is anchored enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set frame the logic. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not preclude a hybrid test from thriving when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they rotate perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, lets marketing to cross-link entries through character and theme and to sustain campaign assets without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The shop talk behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued emphasis on tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that emphasizes grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which play well in booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

How the year maps out

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the palette of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Post-January through spring tee up summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now hosts 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop 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 thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s machine mate escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: mood-led 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 hard-edged boss battle to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic inverts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to dread, anchored by Cronin’s practical effects and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting chiller that plays with the panic of a child’s mercurial POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

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 genre lampoon that riffs on hot-button genre motifs and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a another family bound to lingering terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-driven horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: pending. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and primal menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why this year, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces define this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-sequenced in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter schedules. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming launches. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 left-field winner 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sound field, and visuals 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is name recognition where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.