Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on global platforms

One haunting spectral suspense story from author / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an prehistoric nightmare when strangers become instruments in a hellish ceremony. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing account of survival and forgotten curse that will redefine horror this Halloween season. Visualized by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and atmospheric tale follows five figures who find themselves ensnared in a isolated wooden structure under the malevolent manipulation of Kyra, a tormented girl overtaken by a prehistoric biblical force. Be prepared to be gripped by a immersive ride that weaves together primitive horror with biblical origins, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a time-honored motif in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reversed when the monsters no longer appear from a different plane, but rather inside their minds. This represents the darkest aspect of every character. The result is a psychologically brutal emotional conflict where the tension becomes a ongoing push-pull between innocence and sin.


In a desolate no-man's-land, five campers find themselves confined under the unholy rule and control of a shadowy female figure. As the group becomes powerless to evade her manipulation, severed and stalked by entities unnamable, they are confronted to reckon with their core terrors while the clock without pity pushes forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread escalates and teams splinter, prompting each soul to rethink their true nature and the integrity of free will itself. The risk intensify with every minute, delivering a terror ride that blends paranormal dread with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dive into elemental fright, an force beyond recorded history, working through fragile psyche, and highlighting a curse that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra meant evoking something rooted in terror. She is unaware until the curse activates, and that transformation is bone-chilling because it is so close.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing customers globally can be part of this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first preview, which has racked up over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, extending the thrill to international horror buffs.


Make sure to see this unforgettable path of possession. Face *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to experience these dark realities about free will.


For previews, director cuts, and news from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit the official digital haunt.





Contemporary horror’s decisive shift: the 2025 season American release plan blends old-world possession, independent shockers, together with legacy-brand quakes

From survivor-centric dread drawn from legendary theology to returning series plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into the most dimensioned combined with precision-timed year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios lay down anchors by way of signature titles, even as streaming platforms pack the fall with discovery plays set against legend-coded dread. On another front, independent banners is catching the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the other windows are mapped with care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, though in this cycle, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, which means 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner starts the year with a risk-forward move: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. timed for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, the Warner Bros. banner sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson is back, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, and eerie supernatural logic. The bar is raised this go, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The next entry deepens the tale, thickens the animatronic pantheon, bridging teens and legacy players. It opens in December, holding the cold season’s end.

SVOD Originals: Economy, maximum dread

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a near certain autumn drop.

In the mix sits Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Scripted and led 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. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No overweight mythology. No series drag. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Series Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, guided by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Signals and Trends

Old myth goes broad
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 does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Fall stack and winter swing card

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The oncoming fright Year Ahead: entries, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A busy Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek: The current horror cycle crowds early with a January crush, following that extends through peak season, and carrying into the year-end corridor, braiding brand heft, fresh ideas, and savvy offsets. Studios with streamers are focusing on efficient budgets, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that position horror entries into cross-demo moments.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has emerged as the most reliable move in studio lineups, a category that can expand when it connects and still insulate the downside when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year signaled to buyers that disciplined-budget entries can steer mainstream conversation, 2024 held pace with director-led heat and stealth successes. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is space for a spectrum, from legacy continuations to standalone ideas that scale internationally. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a slate that presents tight coordination across distributors, with strategic blocks, a mix of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a reinvigorated stance on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and home platforms.

Marketers add the category now performs as a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can roll out on almost any weekend, provide a simple premise for teasers and UGC-friendly snippets, and overperform with crowds that arrive on Thursday previews and maintain momentum through the next pass if the picture connects. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 setup underscores trust in that engine. The calendar gets underway with a crowded January run, then uses spring and early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a October build that connects to Halloween and into early November. The grid also underscores the continuing integration of specialized imprints and subscription services that can grow from platform, stoke social talk, and move wide at the inflection point.

Another broad trend is brand curation across interlocking continuities and veteran brands. The studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are aiming to frame brand continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a refreshed voice or a casting move that bridges a latest entry to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are favoring real-world builds, physical gags and concrete locations. That combination hands the 2026 slate a vital pairing of brand comfort and invention, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket entries that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a baton pass and a origin-leaning character-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach announces a nostalgia-forward treatment without retreading the last two entries’ family thread. Anticipate a campaign driven by classic imagery, first images of characters, and a trailer cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counter-slot, this one will go after wide buzz through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick turns to whatever drives horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is crisp, heartbroken, and high-concept: a grieving man sets up an virtual partner that evolves into a dangerous lover. The date locates it at the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to bring back creepy live activations and quick hits that interweaves attachment and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a official title to become an fan moment closer to the debut look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are sold as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a subsequent trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween runway lets the studio to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has proven that a in-your-face, on-set effects led execution can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror jolt that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is framing as a clean-slate approach 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 clearer mandate to serve both fans and newcomers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around world-building, and monster design, elements that can drive premium format interest and fan-forward 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 advances Eggers’ run of period horror built on textural authenticity and period language, this time set against lycan legends. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is glowing.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s releases move to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a stair-step that boosts both debut momentum and platform bumps in the tail. Prime Video balances third-party pickups with international acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and programmed rows to prolong the run on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps flexible about first-party entries and festival pickups, timing horror entries with shorter lead times and eventizing go-lives with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a two-step of limited theatrical footprints and quick platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a selective basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with prestige directors or name-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 pipeline with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is straightforward: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, modernized for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through select festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday frame to widen. That positioning has served the company well for auteur 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 tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall check my blog platformers that can grow if reception allows. Look for 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 in tandem, using mini theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By number, the 2026 slate skews toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a Francophone tone from a hot helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to build pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns illuminate the method. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that maintained windows did not prevent a parallel release from delivering when the brand was compelling. In 2024, director-craft horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel new when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot consecutively, allows marketing to tie installments through character spine and themes and to keep assets alive without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind 2026 horror hint at a continued turn toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that foregrounds texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in feature stories and craft features before rolling out a preview that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which fit with convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

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 somber counterpoint amid headline IP. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tone spread opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Q1 into Q2 build the summer base. Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. 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 rolled through premiums.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited information drops that favor idea over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

Embedded title notes

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 demanding boss push to survive on a cut-off island as the pecking order tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fear, anchored by Cronin’s in-camera craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting setup that leverages the horror of a child’s mercurial read. Rating: pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-grade and headline-actor led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satire sequel that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a fresh family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: pending. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 historical diction and elemental dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces drive this lineup. First, production that slowed or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. 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.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome 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, soundscape, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is name recognition where it counts, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.