Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts ancient terror, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

An hair-raising spiritual horror tale from author / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primeval evil when outsiders become proxies in a devilish ordeal. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a intense story of continuance and ancient evil that will alter terror storytelling this scare season. Brought to life by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and tone-heavy suspense flick follows five individuals who snap to caught in a hidden cottage under the malignant power of Kyra, a central character possessed by a ancient holy text monster. Be prepared to be captivated by a immersive venture that intertwines gut-punch terror with biblical origins, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a enduring concept in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is inverted when the presences no longer manifest outside the characters, but rather from within. This symbolizes the deepest facet of these individuals. The result is a emotionally raw moral showdown where the narrative becomes a brutal contest between moral forces.


In a barren natural abyss, five teens find themselves imprisoned under the possessive sway and curse of a unidentified figure. As the team becomes paralyzed to deny her grasp, severed and tracked by beings indescribable, they are made to battle their greatest panics while the time relentlessly draws closer toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety swells and ties erode, pushing each figure to scrutinize their essence and the notion of independent thought itself. The stakes escalate with every fleeting time, delivering a terror ride that fuses mystical fear with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to explore deep fear, an threat before modern man, operating within emotional vulnerability, and exposing a force that threatens selfhood when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra demanded embodying something rooted in terror. She is unseeing until the takeover begins, and that shift is shocking because it is so visceral.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for digital release beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing audiences across the world can dive into this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its initial teaser, which has racked up over 100K plays.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, bringing the film to international horror buffs.


Witness this heart-stopping journey into fear. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to uncover these terrifying truths about human nature.


For teasers, production insights, and alerts from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





Current horror’s tipping point: the year 2025 U.S. Slate Mixes archetypal-possession themes, independent shockers, set against series shake-ups

Across last-stand terror inspired by primordial scripture to legacy revivals as well as keen independent perspectives, 2025 is lining up as the most textured paired with calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. the big studios stabilize the year through proven series, in tandem platform operators stack the fall with discovery plays together with scriptural shivers. On the festival side, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the uplift from a record 2024 festival run. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are methodical, and 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with a big gambit: a refreshed Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Slated 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 adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

By late summer, Warner’s schedule delivers the closing chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: throwback unease, trauma foregrounded, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It arrives in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a close quarters body horror study starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 an astute call. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

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

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror returns
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theaters are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Projection: Fall stack and winter swing card

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The oncoming spook lineup: returning titles, universe starters, together with A jammed Calendar Built For shocks

Dek The arriving genre year lines up from day one with a January crush, before it flows through peak season, and carrying into the December corridor, combining marquee clout, novel approaches, and strategic calendar placement. The major players are leaning into mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and social-fueled campaigns that transform genre releases into mainstream chatter.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror marketplace has grown into the steady move in release strategies, a segment that can accelerate when it connects and still buffer the liability when it doesn’t. After 2023 reconfirmed for executives that cost-conscious chillers can dominate the national conversation, 2024 carried the beat with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing moved into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and critical darlings confirmed there is an opening for multiple flavors, from franchise continuations to director-led originals that export nicely. The result for the 2026 slate is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across companies, with strategic blocks, a combination of brand names and untested plays, and a reinvigorated stance on exclusive windows that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and home platforms.

Studio leaders note the category now slots in as a flex slot on the programming map. The genre can premiere on almost any weekend, supply a grabby hook for promo reels and reels, and exceed norms with fans that come out on advance nights and continue through the second frame if the release lands. After a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 plan indicates trust in that model. The slate commences with a weighty January lineup, then primes spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while clearing room for a fall corridor that connects to the fright window and into post-Halloween. The schedule also shows the expanded integration of indie arms and streamers that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and grow at the right moment.

A notable top-line trend is franchise tending across shared IP webs and established properties. The companies are not just mounting another sequel. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a sense of event, whether that is a logo package that telegraphs a reframed mood or a casting choice that anchors a incoming chapter to a first wave. At the meanwhile, the filmmakers behind the marquee originals are prioritizing physical effects work, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That blend gives 2026 a solid mix of known notes and invention, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate entries that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the heart, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a return-to-roots relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the story approach points to a nostalgia-forward strategy without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters thread. Expect a marketing push centered on franchise iconography, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution weblink is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also relaunches 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 headline the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate wide appeal through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format making room for quick adjustments to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is elegant, tragic, and logline-clear: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that mutates into a fatal companion. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with the studio’s marketing likely to revisit uncanny live moments and quick hits that hybridizes romance and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a branding reveal to become an attention spike closer to the debut look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s pictures are branded as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a next wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-October frame affords Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has established that a gritty, in-camera leaning strategy can feel high-value on a lean spend. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio places two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, preserving a proven supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is framing 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 mission to serve both loyalists and newcomers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster design, elements that can fuel IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror driven by rigorous craft and linguistic texture, this his comment is here time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Windowing plans in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ordering that optimizes both opening-weekend urgency and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with global originals and brief theater runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using curated hubs, fright rows, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival deals, dating horror entries with shorter lead times and staging as events premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a two-step of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 runway with two brand extensions. 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 gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, elevated for modern mix and grade. 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 telegraphed a traditional cinema play for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday dates to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-first horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception supports. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchises versus originals

By share, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use household recognition. The trade-off, as ever, is overexposure. The preferred tactic is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is centering character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a European tilt from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s 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 focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years clarify the plan. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not block a day-date try from delivering when the brand was sticky. In 2024, director-craft horror rose in PLF. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel new when they shift POV and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, provides the means for marketing to interlace chapters through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without lulls.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind the 2026 slate signal a continued shift toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that underscores creep and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a preview that leans on mood over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for red-band excess, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and earns shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster realization and design, which align with con floor moments and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that spotlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that sing on PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

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 brooding contrast amid larger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late winter and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-October slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that put concept first.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s synthetic partner becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss work to survive on a far-flung island as the power dynamic turns and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

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 take that returns the monster to menace, driven by Cronin’s tactile craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting premise that plays with the dread of a child’s uncertain POV. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: major-studio and toplined supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a different family snared by lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: undetermined. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: closely held. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. 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 language and raw menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why this year, why now

Three pragmatic forces Get More Info inform this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming launches. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will cluster across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 sleeper chase 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 harvest those lanes. 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, 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 beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, aural design, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.