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

A spine-tingling metaphysical thriller from screenwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an long-buried curse when passersby become tools in a devilish conflict. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving account of living through and old world terror that will revamp the horror genre this cool-weather season. Helmed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and emotionally thick motion picture follows five unacquainted souls who come to confined in a remote shack under the oppressive dominion of Kyra, a central character inhabited by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be seized by a audio-visual adventure that blends bone-deep fear with folklore, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a recurring foundation in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is flipped when the spirits no longer arise beyond the self, but rather through their own souls. This marks the darkest corner of these individuals. The result is a relentless internal warfare where the events becomes a perpetual push-pull between light and darkness.


In a remote woodland, five characters find themselves contained under the ominous presence and haunting of a mysterious entity. As the cast becomes vulnerable to withstand her influence, left alone and tracked by entities indescribable, they are forced to encounter their raw vulnerabilities while the final hour unforgivingly pushes forward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia amplifies and partnerships shatter, coercing each figure to question their existence and the nature of conscious will itself. The consequences mount with every heartbeat, delivering a horror experience that weaves together unearthly horror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to draw upon deep fear, an evil that existed before mankind, manifesting in soul-level flaws, and challenging a will that strips down our being when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra asked for exploring something past sanity. She is clueless until the possession kicks in, and that evolution is gut-wrenching because it is so visceral.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that watchers around the globe can survive this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its first preview, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, exporting the fear to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this life-altering journey into fear. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to experience these fearful discoveries about the psyche.


For film updates, production insights, and alerts from the story's source, follow @YACFilm across fan hubs and visit the official movie site.





U.S. horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar fuses ancient-possession motifs, underground frights, alongside legacy-brand quakes

Ranging from grit-forward survival fare suffused with primordial scripture and onward to returning series paired with acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the most stratified paired with calculated campaign year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. major banners bookend the months through proven series, as streamers flood the fall with debut heat paired with primordial unease. At the same time, the artisan tier is carried on the momentum of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate starts the year with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a crisp modern milieu. Led by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Slated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, the Warner lot sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and those signature textures resurface: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The new chapter enriches the lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With cinemas leaning into known IP, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it looks like a certain fall stream.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are more runway than museum.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Series Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Signals and Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror resurges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next fear calendar year ahead: entries, fresh concepts, and also A hectic Calendar Built For Scares

Dek The brand-new horror calendar loads immediately with a January crush, before it flows through June and July, and carrying into the winter holidays, fusing IP strength, new voices, and shrewd counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that convert these pictures into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has emerged as the dependable lever in studio slates, a genre that can grow when it performs and still cushion the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that low-to-mid budget entries can shape the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The upswing rolled into 2025, where legacy revivals and critical darlings proved there is appetite for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that scale internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a run that is strikingly coherent across distributors, with defined corridors, a combination of known properties and first-time concepts, and a reinvigorated focus on box-office windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and home platforms.

Distribution heads claim the genre now operates like a fill-in ace on the schedule. Horror can bow on many corridors, yield a simple premise for teasers and platform-native cuts, and lead with audiences that turn out on advance nights and stick through the next pass if the entry satisfies. Post a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 setup underscores certainty in that equation. The calendar starts with a thick January run, then turns to spring and early summer for counterweight, while saving space for a fall run that carries into the fright window and into post-Halloween. The arrangement also includes the increasing integration of specialized labels and OTT outlets that can grow from platform, spark evangelism, and scale up at the timely point.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across interlocking continuities and established properties. Big banners are not just mounting another continuation. They are aiming to frame connection with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that telegraphs a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that binds a upcoming film to a heyday. At the alongside this, the creative teams behind the most anticipated originals are doubling down on real-world builds, in-camera effects and concrete locations. That blend gives 2026 a vital pairing of familiarity and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, angling it as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a legacy-leaning campaign without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign fueled by franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that unfolds into a lethal partner. The date nudges it to the front of a stacked January, with marketing at Universal likely to echo off-kilter promo beats and short reels that interlaces romance and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a proper title to become an PR pop closer to the initial tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s releases are marketed as filmmaker events, with a concept-forward tease and a next wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The spooky-season slot gives Universal room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gnarly, makeup-driven style can feel deluxe on a efficient spend. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror surge that centers offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio sets two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, continuing a consistent supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sticks 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 new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot allows Sony to build artifacts around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and period language, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that boosts both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on the horror cume. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival additions, finalizing horror entries near their drops and positioning as event drops rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with established auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is tight: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception allows. Do not be surprised by 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 hand in hand, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

Brands and originals

By volume, 2026 leans toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness fan equity. The concern, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is centering character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-flavored turn from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and auteur plays deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the team and cast is anchored enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps announce the logic. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept clean windows did not prevent a day-date try from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, art-forward horror punched above its weight in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they shift POV and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 filmed in sequence, enables marketing to thread films through character and theme and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror signal a continued emphasis on hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in deep-dive features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta reframe that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster aesthetics and world-building, which match well with booth activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that center razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid heavier IP. The month winds down 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 spread of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 prime the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that put concept first.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card redemption.

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 continues. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genetic code. 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 grieving man’s artificial companion evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a this contact form fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 fight to survive on a desolate island as the power balance of power upends and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: marquee survival piece 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 horror, founded on Cronin’s physical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting tale that routes the horror through a youth’s unreliable internal vantage. Rating: TBD. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-supported and star-led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that riffs on hot-button genre motifs and true-crime crazes. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 breaks out, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a unlucky family snared by returning horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-driven horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and raw menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why this year, why now

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or migrated in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate bite-size scare clips from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-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 harvest those lanes. 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August have a peek at these guys and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sound field, 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 Looks Exciting

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, new vision where it lands, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.