Ancient Terror Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising shocker, arriving October 2025 across leading streamers

A frightening spectral scare-fest from writer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an primeval malevolence when unrelated individuals become victims in a malevolent ordeal. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful tale of survival and prehistoric entity that will resculpt scare flicks this harvest season. Visualized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and claustrophobic screenplay follows five strangers who arise trapped in a isolated dwelling under the malevolent manipulation of Kyra, a troubled woman dominated by a time-worn ancient fiend. Arm yourself to be ensnared by a narrative venture that blends bodily fright with mystical narratives, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a well-established narrative in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is subverted when the presences no longer form from an outside force, but rather within themselves. This illustrates the most primal facet of the victims. The result is a relentless moral showdown where the intensity becomes a unforgiving battle between moral forces.


In a desolate wilderness, five friends find themselves contained under the sinister influence and possession of a obscure character. As the ensemble becomes submissive to deny her control, severed and followed by forces inconceivable, they are confronted to deal with their soulful dreads while the time mercilessly moves toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and alliances break, pushing each cast member to rethink their core and the idea of free will itself. The threat grow with every fleeting time, delivering a scare-fueled ride that fuses paranormal dread with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to evoke raw dread, an threat that existed before mankind, channeling itself through soul-level flaws, and dealing with a entity that questions who we are when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant evoking something rooted in terror. She is insensitive until the curse activates, and that evolution is bone-chilling because it is so emotional.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that households everywhere can experience this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, presenting the nightmare to a global viewership.


Don’t miss this gripping journey into fear. Watch *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to uncover these fearful discoveries about free will.


For exclusive trailers, special features, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACMovie across platforms and visit our spooky domain.





Modern horror’s sea change: 2025 U.S. Slate braids together legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, plus brand-name tremors

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales drawn from scriptural legend and including legacy revivals paired with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is lining up as the most complex combined with strategic year in ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. the big studios are anchoring the year using marquee IP, as OTT services stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs alongside archetypal fear. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is propelled by the afterglow from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, notably this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are precise, which means 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s distribution arm fires the first shot with a marquee bet: a refashioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a modern-day environment. Under director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Steered 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. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer eases, Warner’s schedule bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: old school creep, trauma foregrounded, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time, the stakes are raised, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It drops in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Plays: Low budgets, big teeth

With cinemas leaning into known IP, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No sequel clutter. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, steered by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. Marketed correctly, it could be 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.

Key Trends

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The oncoming scare release year: installments, new stories, as well as A loaded Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek: The new scare season crowds up front with a January logjam, following that flows through the warm months, and deep into the winter holidays, fusing brand equity, new voices, and calculated counter-scheduling. Studios and platforms are relying on mid-range economics, theater-first strategies, and buzz-forward plans that convert these offerings into all-audience topics.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has turned into the surest swing in release strategies, a genre that can break out when it breaks through and still cushion the losses when it underperforms. After 2023 showed studio brass that cost-conscious genre plays can drive audience talk, 2024 held pace with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The momentum extended into 2025, where reawakened brands and festival-grade titles underscored there is space for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across companies, with purposeful groupings, a blend of legacy names and new pitches, and a reinvigorated attention on box-office windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and SVOD.

Schedulers say the horror lane now works like a schedule utility on the calendar. Horror can arrive on numerous frames, offer a easy sell for spots and shorts, and lead with audiences that arrive on early shows and hold through the next weekend if the release pays off. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup underscores trust in that playbook. The calendar opens with a weighty January schedule, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while carving room for a fall corridor that reaches into late October and past the holiday. The arrangement also includes the continuing integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can stage a platform run, fuel WOM, and grow at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. Studios are not just mounting another return. They are shaping as threaded continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that announces a new tone or a cast configuration that threads a new installment to a classic era. At the alongside this, the creative teams behind the top original plays are leaning into real-world builds, physical gags and specific settings. That mix hands 2026 a solid mix of familiarity and freshness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate releases that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character-forward chapter. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a classic-referencing treatment without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Watch for a push rooted in franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt wide appeal through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format permitting quick turns to whatever drives trend lines that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is simple, heartbroken, and high-concept: a grieving man adopts an algorithmic mate that unfolds into a harmful mate. The date places it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s campaign likely to revisit viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that threads affection and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an headline beat closer to the first trailer. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are framed as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a later creative that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date creates space for Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 anchoring. The franchise has established that a gnarly, practical-effects forward style can feel cinematic on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that centers global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is describing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both fans and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can accelerate premium booking interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins 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 built on historical precision and archaic language, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus has already locked the day for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is warm.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a pacing that elevates both debut momentum and subscriber lifts in the after-window. Prime Video continues to mix acquired titles with global acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in back-catalog play, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and programmed rows to extend momentum on overall cume. Netflix keeps options open about original films and festival acquisitions, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and coalescing around rollouts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a hybrid of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness 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 awards-qualifying thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for retention when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical rollout for the title, an promising marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the holiday slot to go wider. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception drives. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a continental coloration from a fresh helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is recognizable enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Past-three-year patterns announce the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not deter a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was sticky. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens 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 double feature plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without lulls.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind these films telegraph a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and department features before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta reframe that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature design and production design, which match well with expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that underscore razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is full. 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 atmospheric change-up amid headline IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the range of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan check over here and limited disclosures that put concept first.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s AI companion becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 tough boss try to survive on a remote island as the power balance tilts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, grounded in Cronin’s tactile craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting premise that threads the dread through a kid’s volatile personal vantage. Rating: forthcoming. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-crafted and toplined spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that teases current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 bursts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new clan anchored to past horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, click site with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and elemental menace. Rating: pending. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three pragmatic forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming launches. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, 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 sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor 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 command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sonics, 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 Shapes Up Strong

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand power where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival imp source pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.