Age-old Dread reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across top digital platforms

An terrifying occult nightmare movie from literary architect / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried evil when unfamiliar people become tokens in a cursed ceremony. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching episode of endurance and age-old darkness that will transform scare flicks this October. Guided by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and moody film follows five people who awaken trapped in a remote house under the malevolent dominion of Kyra, a cursed figure occupied by a two-thousand-year-old biblical demon. Anticipate to be immersed by a visual outing that melds primitive horror with mythic lore, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a classic tradition in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is redefined when the demons no longer appear outside their bodies, but rather from their core. This suggests the malevolent part of the cast. The result is a riveting mind game where the intensity becomes a merciless struggle between innocence and sin.


In a forsaken forest, five campers find themselves marooned under the fiendish aura and possession of a unknown female figure. As the victims becomes unable to withstand her command, stranded and tormented by beings beyond comprehension, they are thrust to battle their deepest fears while the seconds ruthlessly ticks onward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension builds and links shatter, urging each cast member to examine their personhood and the structure of independent thought itself. The pressure mount with every second, delivering a chilling narrative that marries unearthly horror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to uncover elemental fright, an power born of forgotten ages, manifesting in psychological breaks, and wrestling with a evil that peels away humanity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra required summoning something deeper than fear. She is ignorant until the invasion happens, and that change is gut-wrenching because it is so private.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing viewers in all regions can face this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original promo, which has garnered over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, presenting the nightmare to scare fans abroad.


Join this visceral voyage through terror. Face *Young & Cursed* this launch day to face these ghostly lessons about the mind.


For previews, production news, and promotions from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror tipping point: calendar year 2025 American release plan weaves legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, stacked beside franchise surges

Ranging from survivor-centric dread infused with scriptural legend and onward to IP renewals as well as focused festival visions, 2025 looks like the most complex combined with calculated campaign year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. leading studios bookend the months with familiar IP, in parallel digital services saturate the fall with emerging auteurs paired with archetypal fear. Across the art-house lane, the art-house flank is drafting behind the momentum of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and now, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, so 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s distribution arm opens the year with a marquee bet: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot sets loose the finale of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re boards, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, builds out the animatronic fear crew, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It bows in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

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

Platform originals gain bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Projection: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

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

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The forthcoming 2026 spook cycle: next chapters, Originals, alongside A Crowded Calendar engineered for chills

Dek: The emerging scare calendar stacks at the outset with a January pile-up, thereafter rolls through the summer months, and straight through the holiday stretch, blending brand equity, inventive spins, and shrewd alternatives. Studios and platforms are doubling down on right-sized spends, box-office-first windows, and influencer-ready assets that transform horror entries into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has become the sturdy move in studio calendars, a category that can surge when it catches and still insulate the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year demonstrated to executives that cost-conscious horror vehicles can drive the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The energy fed into the 2025 frame, where returns and premium-leaning entries highlighted there is capacity for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to director-led originals that translate worldwide. The net effect for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across studios, with strategic blocks, a balance of known properties and untested plays, and a tightened stance on theatrical windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and streaming.

Planners observe the category now operates like a swing piece on the grid. The genre can debut on nearly any frame, yield a easy sell for spots and TikTok spots, and outpace with crowds that appear on opening previews and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the feature connects. On the heels of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern reflects assurance in that logic. The slate begins with a front-loaded January band, then exploits spring through early summer for alternate plays, while making space for a fall cadence that reaches into Halloween and afterwards. The grid also includes the tightening integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and move wide at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Big banners are not just releasing another chapter. They are shaping as brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that suggests a new vibe or a casting pivot that binds a next film to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing tactile craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That combination offers 2026 a vital pairing of trust and novelty, which is what works overseas.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two high-profile releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a relay and a return-to-roots character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a memory-charged approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via 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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will chase mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever shapes the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, melancholic, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an intelligent companion that escalates into a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on uncanny live moments and brief clips that blurs affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s pictures are sold as marquee events, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The prime October weekend lets the studio to saturate 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with great post to read Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, practical-effects forward method can feel premium on a efficient spend. Position this as a splatter summer horror hit that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio places two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a steady supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is calling a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both loyalists and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build assets around narrative world, and monster design, elements that can fuel IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by immersive craft and period language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is warm.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that optimizes both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed content with international acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using prominent placements, spooky hubs, and programmed rows to prolong the run on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps options open about originals and festival pickups, securing horror entries closer to launch and elevating as drops debuts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a dual-phase of focused cinema runs and speedy platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to pick up select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation surges.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is tight: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, reimagined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a theatrical rollout for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the October weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to widen. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception supports. Look 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 targeted theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By skew, 2026 tilts in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The concern, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to package each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-flavored turn from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the packaging is steady enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps clarify the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept streaming intact did not deter a parallel release from performing when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror popped in premium large format. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they alter lens and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on this content January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot in tandem, lets marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued bias toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that spotlights creep and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft features before rolling out a tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that emphasize hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. 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 marquee brands. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the range of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 stage summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late summer into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a early fall window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s artificial companion turns into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: gothic-game 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 abrasive boss work to survive on a isolated island as the power balance of power flips and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fright, founded on Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting story that toys with the fear of a child’s shaky senses. Rating: forthcoming. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed and name-above-title spirit-world 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 parody return that targets hot-button genre motifs and true crime fervors. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family snared by older hauntings. Rating: TBD. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-first horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in progress. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and ancient menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or recalendared in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will trade weekends across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

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

The surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, 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 scale over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, and framing 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is name recognition where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shudders sell the seats.