Mythic Terror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 across top digital platforms

A unnerving otherworldly suspense story from author / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an forgotten horror when guests become proxies in a demonic ritual. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping tale of endurance and old world terror that will remodel the fear genre this season. Crafted by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and claustrophobic screenplay follows five strangers who arise confined in a unreachable hideaway under the aggressive dominion of Kyra, a haunted figure controlled by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Brace yourself to be hooked by a big screen outing that melds intense horror with mythic lore, unleashing 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 tradition in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is flipped when the spirits no longer descend from elsewhere, but rather within themselves. This marks the deepest element of the cast. The result is a emotionally raw moral showdown where the drama becomes a constant clash between moral forces.


In a unforgiving landscape, five teens find themselves caught under the malevolent dominion and control of a mysterious apparition. As the characters becomes powerless to combat her manipulation, severed and tracked by powers inconceivable, they are forced to reckon with their inner demons while the seconds mercilessly runs out toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion intensifies and bonds fracture, pushing each individual to rethink their character and the concept of volition itself. The intensity accelerate with every tick, delivering a fear-soaked story that intertwines paranormal dread with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dig into raw dread, an force born of forgotten ages, manipulating human fragility, and examining a entity that peels away humanity when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra demanded embodying something more primal than sorrow. She is ignorant until the curse activates, and that transformation is harrowing because it is so raw.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for public screening beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering users across the world can face this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its release of trailer #1, which has gathered over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to lovers of terror across nations.


Avoid skipping this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Join *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to experience these unholy truths about the psyche.


For bonus footage, on-set glimpses, and updates from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





Today’s horror watershed moment: 2025 across markets U.S. release slate fuses primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, alongside returning-series thunder

Across survival horror rooted in mythic scripture to franchise returns paired with acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the most variegated along with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. the big studios hold down the year with established lines, simultaneously digital services stack the fall with new voices alongside primordial unease. Across the art-house lane, the artisan tier is surfing the uplift of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween holding the peak, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s distribution arm kicks off the frame with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer winds down, the Warner Bros. banner rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re engages, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It books December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror duet including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation 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. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are more runway than museum.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

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

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from 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.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror reemerges
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

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 play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next genre lineup: brand plays, standalone ideas, plus A loaded Calendar tailored for nightmares

Dek The incoming horror calendar stacks from day one with a January bottleneck, before it stretches through the warm months, and deep into the December corridor, blending marquee clout, original angles, and well-timed calendar placement. Major distributors and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that elevate these pictures into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has shown itself to be the steady tool in studio calendars, a category that can break out when it clicks and still safeguard the floor when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught buyers that lean-budget pictures can shape the discourse, 2024 continued the surge with buzzy auteur projects and sleeper breakouts. The energy flowed into 2025, where legacy revivals and critical darlings proved there is appetite for a variety of tones, from ongoing IP entries to fresh IP that carry overseas. The result for the 2026 slate is a programming that seems notably aligned across the field, with clear date clusters, a spread of familiar brands and novel angles, and a recommitted stance on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium on-demand and SVOD.

Buyers contend the horror lane now acts as a versatile piece on the slate. Horror can bow on virtually any date, deliver a simple premise for creative and TikTok spots, and overperform with audiences that lean in on opening previews and return through the follow-up frame if the movie connects. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores belief in that equation. The slate starts with a weighty January corridor, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a fall cadence that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The layout also illustrates the ongoing integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can grow from platform, ignite recommendations, and grow at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across shared IP webs and storied titles. The players are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are shaping as lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that flags a refreshed voice or a casting choice that binds a next film to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing on-set craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That pairing offers the 2026 slate a confident blend of comfort and discovery, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a nostalgia-forward campaign without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Expect a marketing push leaning on signature symbols, early character teases, and a rollout cadence landing toward 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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will stress. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will generate large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever drives horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear entries. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that grows into a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that interweaves intimacy and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s pictures are set up as event films, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a gritty, practical-first mix can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Position this as a splatter summer horror surge that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio lines up two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is billing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway Source for Sony to build promo materials around world-building, and creature work, elements that can stoke format premiums 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 obsessive craft and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. The distributor has already locked the day for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is robust.

Where the platforms fit in

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a tiered path that expands both launch urgency and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video pairs licensed content with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library curation, using seasonal hubs, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to increase tail value on aggregate take. Netflix stays opportunistic about internal projects and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and speedy platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to invest in select projects with name filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 lane with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, 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 hinted a theatrical rollout for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to move out. That positioning has helped for director-led genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, 2026 tilts in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate name recognition. The question, as ever, is fatigue. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-driven titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps announce the model. In 2023, a theater-first model that maintained windows did not preclude a day-date move from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in Source PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reframe POV and grow 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 two-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, permits marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The filmmaking conversations behind the year’s horror signal a continued lean toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-true language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft coverage before rolling out a first look that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature craft and set design, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is jammed. 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 larger brand plays. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that put concept first.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s synthetic partner unfolds into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

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 collide with a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the power dynamic tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: click to read more 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, founded on Cronin’s practical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that threads the dread through a youth’s shifting POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral 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 parody reboot that riffs on current genre trends and true crime fervors. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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-faithful speech and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 use those gaps. 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, 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 cinematography 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.