Antediluvian Evil Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling shocker, arriving October 2025 across major streaming services

An blood-curdling spiritual terror film from writer / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an age-old horror when outsiders become tools in a demonic ordeal. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing account of overcoming and mythic evil that will redefine terror storytelling this ghoul season. Guided by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and moody thriller follows five strangers who emerge locked in a hidden shelter under the hostile rule of Kyra, a haunted figure claimed by a two-thousand-year-old sacrosanct terror. Steel yourself to be hooked by a narrative adventure that combines gut-punch terror with biblical origins, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a iconic tradition in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is radically shifted when the fiends no longer appear from external sources, but rather within themselves. This echoes the malevolent aspect of the victims. The result is a intense identity crisis where the intensity becomes a merciless clash between moral forces.


In a desolate forest, five figures find themselves confined under the evil presence and overtake of a obscure spirit. As the survivors becomes unresisting to resist her influence, severed and tracked by creatures impossible to understand, they are driven to encounter their emotional phantoms while the doomsday meter relentlessly winds toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion grows and alliances dissolve, compelling each member to rethink their being and the idea of autonomy itself. The risk rise with every passing moment, delivering a chilling narrative that merges spiritual fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to draw upon ancestral fear, an power older than civilization itself, manifesting in soul-level flaws, and navigating a curse that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was centered on something unfamiliar to reason. She is innocent until the demon emerges, and that shift is haunting because it is so raw.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing audiences in all regions can be part of this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original clip, which has racked up over a viral response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, exporting the fear to horror fans worldwide.


Do not miss this haunted spiral into evil. Experience *Young & Cursed* this launch day to uncover these terrifying truths about the mind.


For featurettes, extra content, and alerts directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your socials and visit our spooky domain.





The horror genre’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season U.S. calendar Mixes biblical-possession ideas, signature indie scares, in parallel with franchise surges

Moving from last-stand terror steeped in ancient scripture and onward to franchise returns and keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the most stratified along with carefully orchestrated year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. top-tier distributors are anchoring the year through proven series, in parallel SVOD players crowd the fall with unboxed visions in concert with legend-coded dread. On the festival side, independent banners is drafting behind the echoes from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, hence 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate kicks off the frame with an audacious swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re boards, and the tone that worked before is intact: 70s style chill, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It opens in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Modest spend, serious shock

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a body horror duet with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written 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 evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

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. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror returns
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Laurels convert to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The 2026 chiller calendar year ahead: brand plays, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A stacked Calendar aimed at shocks

Dek: The brand-new genre season builds up front with a January crush, from there stretches through the warm months, and pushing into the holiday frame, balancing series momentum, original angles, and strategic counterweight. Distributors with platforms are leaning into lean spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that transform these pictures into four-quadrant talking points.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has become the predictable option in distribution calendars, a genre that can lift when it lands and still protect the exposure when it does not. After 2023 signaled to leaders that modestly budgeted chillers can own audience talk, the following year maintained heat with filmmaker-forward plays and slow-burn breakouts. The carry translated to the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers made clear there is an opening for a variety of tones, from ongoing IP entries to non-IP projects that perform internationally. The sum for the 2026 slate is a programming that appears tightly organized across the industry, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a recommitted attention on exclusive windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital and subscription services.

Schedulers say the category now acts as a utility player on the schedule. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, provide a clear pitch for trailers and TikTok spots, and outstrip with moviegoers that appear on first-look nights and continue through the second frame if the film delivers. Exiting a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 mapping exhibits belief in that playbook. The calendar rolls out with a thick January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterweight, while reserving space for a October build that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The program also spotlights the expanded integration of specialty distributors and streamers that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and grow at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across shared IP webs and established properties. The companies are not just releasing another next film. They are seeking to position lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting choice that binds a next film to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing tactile craft, on-set effects and location-forward worlds. That fusion produces the 2026 slate a robust balance of assurance and surprise, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount marks the early tempo with two high-profile entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a relay and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a nostalgia-forward campaign without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected driven by franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will double down on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever tops the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is elegant, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that escalates into a lethal partner. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with marketing at Universal likely to echo viral uncanny stunts and short reels that blurs love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working 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 final title to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then my company work 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has demonstrated that a gnarly, practical-first method can feel top-tier on a moderate cost. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror blast that leans into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is presenting as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both loyalists and general audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around canon, and creature design, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror centered on immersive craft and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that fortifies both launch urgency and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video combines catalogue additions with worldwide buys and limited runs in theaters when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, horror hubs, and featured rows to lengthen the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about original films and festival snaps, confirming horror entries on shorter runways and coalescing around drops with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a tiered of precision releases and quick platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with accomplished filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is direct: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a traditional cinema play for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday dates to move out. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception allows. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using mini theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Balance of brands and originals

By number, 2026 bends toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The practical approach is to position each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is foregrounding character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a new voice. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is assuring enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent-year comps contextualize the plan. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not deter a day-date try from delivering when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror exceeded expectations in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reorient and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot consecutively, lets marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to continue assets in field without hiatuses.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The production chatter behind the upcoming entries point to a continued emphasis on tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that highlights texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft profiles and technical spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta-horror reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature craft and set design, which favor expo activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid headline IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can win 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.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a opaque tease strategy and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then using 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 riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: atmospheric 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 struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s material craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting chiller that explores the unease of a child’s unreliable impressions. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that targets modern genre fads and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 detonates, this page with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new household linked to lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A fresh restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-core horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: not yet rated. Production: continuing. 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 era-accurate language and primordial menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three operational forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that eased or recalendared in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and pared-down 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, offering breathing room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where lean-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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound field, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand power where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, protect the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.