Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases age-old dread, a fear soaked shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

One spine-tingling ghostly suspense story from writer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried nightmare when drifters become victims in a fiendish conflict. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching tale of endurance and timeless dread that will alter terror storytelling this scare season. Visualized by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and immersive story follows five teens who emerge trapped in a off-grid cottage under the oppressive manipulation of Kyra, a central character controlled by a ancient sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be immersed by a screen-based spectacle that weaves together primitive horror with spiritual backstory, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a time-honored foundation in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is radically shifted when the entities no longer form from beyond, but rather internally. This marks the most hidden facet of these individuals. The result is a edge-of-seat cognitive warzone where the drama becomes a merciless push-pull between innocence and sin.


In a bleak wilderness, five teens find themselves caught under the possessive sway and infestation of a secretive character. As the protagonists becomes unresisting to deny her will, marooned and chased by terrors beyond reason, they are forced to reckon with their darkest emotions while the final hour relentlessly winds toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia swells and associations crack, urging each soul to evaluate their personhood and the idea of decision-making itself. The intensity accelerate with every second, delivering a horror experience that merges otherworldly panic with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to extract elemental fright, an malevolence beyond recorded history, manifesting in emotional fractures, and examining a power that questions who we are when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra asked for exploring something darker than pain. She is blind until the possession kicks in, and that transition is eerie because it is so deep.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be available for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing streamers globally can face this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its intro video, which has been viewed over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, giving access to the movie to international horror buffs.


Do not miss this mind-warping exploration of dread. Enter *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to see these dark realities about human nature.


For cast commentary, production insights, and social posts from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across social media and visit the movie portal.





Contemporary horror’s Turning Point: 2025 U.S. rollouts weaves myth-forward possession, Indie Shockers, plus IP aftershocks

Running from life-or-death fear steeped in legendary theology and onward to IP renewals together with focused festival visions, 2025 is emerging as horror’s most layered and blueprinted year in recent memory.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. major banners are anchoring the year with established lines, in parallel digital services pack the fall with emerging auteurs in concert with ancient terrors. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is surfing the carry from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween stays the prime week, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with an audacious swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. launches the swan song from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Offerings: No Budget, No Problem

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror chamber piece pairing Alison Brie with 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 moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Then there is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed 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. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, 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.

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 a calculated bet. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festivals as Springboards

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

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Fall stack and winter swing card

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. 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 aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The 2026 fear Year Ahead: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A brimming Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek The fresh terror slate lines up in short order with a January wave, after that rolls through June and July, and pushing into the winter holidays, blending brand equity, untold stories, and calculated alternatives. Distributors with platforms are leaning into mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that elevate the slate’s entries into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has become the sturdy play in release plans, a vertical that can surge when it hits and still limit the drag when it falls short. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that responsibly budgeted pictures can command cultural conversation, 2024 maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and quiet over-performers. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and festival-grade titles underscored there is an opening for a spectrum, from continued chapters to original one-offs that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a schedule that shows rare alignment across players, with intentional bunching, a combination of household franchises and untested plays, and a reinvigorated stance on box-office windows that increase tail monetization on premium rental and platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now performs as a flex slot on the schedule. Horror can kick off on open real estate, supply a quick sell for teasers and UGC-friendly snippets, and punch above weight with ticket buyers that arrive on opening previews and maintain momentum through the week two if the title works. After a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 mapping reflects faith in that logic. The calendar launches with a crowded January corridor, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while holding room for a October build that pushes into spooky season and into post-Halloween. The grid also reflects the ongoing integration of specialty distributors and streamers that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and roll out at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is brand strategy across interlocking continuities and classic IP. Studio teams are not just producing another continuation. They are looking to package continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a new tone or a lead change that reconnects a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the meanwhile, the filmmakers behind the headline-grabbing originals are returning to tactile craft, practical gags and vivid settings. That interplay delivers 2026 a smart balance of brand comfort and novelty, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount defines the early cadence with two spotlight moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the heart, steering it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach points to a legacy-leaning strategy without going over the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Count on a promo wave fueled by brand visuals, initial cast looks, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also revives 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 linchpin the campaign will foreground. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will drive general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever shapes pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, melancholic, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an algorithmic mate that unfolds into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s campaign likely to revisit strange in-person beats and short-form creative that interlaces attachment and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title drop to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s pictures are sold as auteur events, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway offers Universal room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a tactile, physical-effects centered approach can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Expect a splatter summer horror shot that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is describing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both players and curious audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around world-building, and creature design, elements that can amplify format premiums and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by rigorous craft and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that enhances both debut momentum and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video pairs licensed content with worldwide entries and brief theater runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library curation, using editorial spots, fright rows, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps flexible about own-slate titles and festival grabs, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and eventizing rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a paired of precision releases and accelerated platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 sequence with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is simple: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, modernized for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception merits. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using targeted theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The question, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is bringing forward character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is anchored enough to build pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent comps contextualize the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that observed windows did not preclude a hybrid test from working when the brand was big. In 2024, precision craft horror outperformed in PLF. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The creative meetings behind this slate indicate a continued move toward 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 wrapped photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that underscores unease and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell horror movies this aesthetic in deep-dive features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which favor convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that elevate surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that play in premium auditoriums.

Annual flow

January is busy. 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 quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the palette of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a transitional slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited teasers that prioritize concept over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical 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 unyielding boss battle to survive on a rugged island as the power balance tilts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fear, shaped by Cronin’s on-set craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting scenario that interrogates the unease of a child’s uncertain interpretations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-financed and star-led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A comic send-up that skewers present-day genre chatter and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a another family lashed to ancient dread. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in classic survival-horror tone over action fireworks. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and ancient menace. Rating: undetermined. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three pragmatic forces organize this lineup. First, production that downshifted or reshuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects 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, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine social-ready stingers from test screenings, curated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

The slot calculus is real. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will jostle across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 cold, 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 condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sonics, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is IP strength where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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, shape lean trailers, keep secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.