Mythic Dread Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror feature, launching Oct 2025 across global platforms

A blood-curdling paranormal shockfest from writer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried malevolence when unknowns become proxies in a demonic ritual. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping episode of endurance and primeval wickedness that will reconstruct scare flicks this fall. Directed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and shadowy story follows five unknowns who wake up caught in a off-grid dwelling under the dark influence of Kyra, a young woman occupied by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be drawn in by a cinematic event that integrates primitive horror with timeless legends, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a legendary fixture in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is radically shifted when the beings no longer form from elsewhere, but rather from their psyche. This illustrates the most hidden aspect of all involved. The result is a intense identity crisis where the suspense becomes a relentless fight between moral forces.


In a abandoned no-man's-land, five figures find themselves imprisoned under the fiendish effect and spiritual invasion of a uncanny being. As the team becomes unresisting to deny her dominion, cut off and targeted by powers unfathomable, they are obligated to face their raw vulnerabilities while the final hour unforgivingly moves toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust intensifies and ties shatter, pressuring each character to scrutinize their values and the foundation of liberty itself. The threat magnify with every heartbeat, delivering a paranormal ride that blends ghostly evil with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to uncover elemental fright, an presence from prehistory, filtering through emotional fractures, and wrestling with a entity that strips down our being when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra called for internalizing something beneath mortal despair. She is innocent until the demon emerges, and that metamorphosis is shocking because it is so close.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing households worldwide can be part of this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original clip, which has racked up over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, spreading the horror to a worldwide audience.


Tune in for this heart-stopping exploration of dread. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to witness these fearful discoveries about the human condition.


For bonus footage, on-set glimpses, and social posts from those who lived it, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit the official website.





American horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule weaves old-world possession, Indie Shockers, and brand-name tremors

Beginning with survival horror suffused with primordial scripture and extending to canon extensions paired with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned together with calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Major studios set cornerstones through proven series, simultaneously OTT services front-load the fall with new voices in concert with archetypal fear. On the festival side, the independent cohort is buoyed by the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. Since Halloween is the prized date, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are targeted, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a modernized Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a modern-day environment. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. dated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Led by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer fades, Warner’s schedule bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the outline is tried, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Next is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson is back, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time the stakes climb, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, builds out the animatronic fear crew, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It opens in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by 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 is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Authored and directed 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 the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated canon. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forward View: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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 must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 spook Year Ahead: brand plays, Originals, as well as A stacked Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek: The incoming terror slate crams early with a January bottleneck, then rolls through the mid-year, and well into the December corridor, fusing brand equity, original angles, and shrewd offsets. Distributors with platforms are leaning into cost discipline, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that transform the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has proven to be the most reliable release in programming grids, a space that can break out when it hits and still safeguard the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that low-to-mid budget pictures can lead mainstream conversation, 2024 carried the beat with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The momentum moved into 2025, where revived properties and awards-minded projects underscored there is a lane for multiple flavors, from brand follow-ups to original features that translate worldwide. The end result for 2026 is a grid that presents tight coordination across the field, with defined corridors, a balance of marquee IP and original hooks, and a revived focus on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on premium home window and subscription services.

Buyers contend the space now behaves like a flex slot on the schedule. Horror can open on numerous frames, supply a grabby hook for teasers and TikTok spots, and outpace with moviegoers that lean in on preview nights and continue through the second frame if the title delivers. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 plan telegraphs trust in that dynamic. The year commences with a weighty January run, then turns to spring and early summer for alternate plays, while saving space for a fall cadence that connects to All Hallows period and afterwards. The grid also includes the greater integration of specialized imprints and subscription services that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and broaden at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. Big banners are not just making another return. They are looking to package lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that flags a recalibrated tone or a casting move that anchors a latest entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing practical craft, practical gags and distinct locales. That mix affords the 2026 slate a healthy mix of familiarity and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate projects that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a classic-referencing framework without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. Count on a promo wave rooted in franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will lean on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined strategies. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that evolves into a perilous partner. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to reprise uncanny live moments and micro spots that mixes intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be 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 leaves room for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are set up as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway opens a lane to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, practical-first strategy can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that embraces offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is calling a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around lore, and monster design, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror defined by textural authenticity and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ladder that expands both launch urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with international acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in deep cuts, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and staff picks to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival pickups, dating horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is uncomplicated: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then using the year-end corridor to move out. That positioning has been successful for prestige horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchises versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps outline the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not preclude a dual release from delivering when the brand was compelling. In 2024, director-craft horror rose in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel new when they alter lens and widen scale. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters shot consecutively, enables marketing to link the films through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

Technique and craft currents

The production chatter behind this slate telegraph a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes texture and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and medieval diction, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature and environment design, which favor con floor moments and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar cadence

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Source Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the variety of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring seed summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a transitional slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s artificial companion becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss fight to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to dread, founded on Cronin’s material craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 home-set haunting tale that frames the panic through a youngster’s unsteady point of view. Rating: TBA. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed and headline-actor led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that skewers hot-button genre motifs and true-crime crazes. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set 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 spreads, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new clan caught in older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on true survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian weblink outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-sequenced in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming launches. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will share space across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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 momentum and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 icy, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, smart allocations, 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 grain, audio design, and image-making 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

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand gravity where needed, auteur intent where it matters, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.