Antediluvian Dread stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An blood-curdling occult shockfest from creator / director Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an mythic fear when guests become victims in a hellish conflict. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing account of endurance and age-old darkness that will redefine the horror genre this scare season. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and eerie film follows five individuals who snap to imprisoned in a cut-off lodge under the menacing grip of Kyra, a haunted figure overtaken by a two-thousand-year-old scriptural evil. Be prepared to be immersed by a immersive ride that combines instinctive fear with mystical narratives, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a mainstay tradition in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is inverted when the spirits no longer emerge beyond the self, but rather from within. This suggests the most terrifying aspect of the group. The result is a enthralling spiritual tug-of-war where the plotline becomes a perpetual contest between virtue and vice.


In a remote wild, five friends find themselves confined under the malicious sway and inhabitation of a unidentified woman. As the companions becomes unable to withstand her command, stranded and targeted by creatures unfathomable, they are pushed to wrestle with their worst nightmares while the hours unceasingly ticks onward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension grows and teams collapse, demanding each person to question their core and the integrity of independent thought itself. The consequences surge with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that harmonizes demonic fright with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to explore primal fear, an power beyond time, manifesting in psychological breaks, and exposing a will that peels away humanity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was centered on something beyond human emotion. She is insensitive until the entity awakens, and that pivot is eerie because it is so private.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be released for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring fans across the world can get immersed in this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original clip, which has gathered over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, making the film to a global viewership.


Tune in for this soul-jarring ride through nightmares. Join *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to survive these ghostly lessons about existence.


For previews, set experiences, and press updates directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit the movie’s homepage.





Today’s horror tipping point: the 2025 cycle American release plan weaves legend-infused possession, independent shockers, plus series shake-ups

Beginning with endurance-driven terror inspired by ancient scripture and including franchise returns and keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified along with carefully orchestrated year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Top studios stabilize the year with established lines, simultaneously streamers pack the fall with emerging auteurs together with mythic dread. In the indie lane, the artisan tier is propelled by the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are precise, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium dread reemerges

The top end is active. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal banner opens the year with a headline swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. Guided 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. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Guided by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer eases, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson resumes command, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: nostalgic menace, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The next entry deepens the tale, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend starring 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 movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror returns
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

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

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Autumn density and winter pivot

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming chiller lineup: brand plays, Originals, as well as A hectic Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek: The fresh scare cycle clusters right away with a January traffic jam, and then runs through June and July, and pushing into the year-end corridor, weaving franchise firepower, novel approaches, and tactical counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are committing to efficient budgets, box-office-first windows, and buzz-forward plans that pivot the slate’s entries into cross-demo moments.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has turned into the dependable play in studio slates, a lane that can lift when it resonates and still hedge the floor when it underperforms. After the 2023 year reminded greenlighters that efficiently budgeted horror vehicles can dominate social chatter, 2024 held pace with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The head of steam fed into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films made clear there is space for a spectrum, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a roster that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a mix of known properties and novel angles, and a refocused eye on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now serves as a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can bow on nearly any frame, yield a sharp concept for creative and reels, and outperform with demo groups that appear on Thursday previews and sustain through the week two if the film pays off. After a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 plan signals conviction in that setup. The year opens with a crowded January window, then leans on spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a fall cadence that runs into the fright window and past the holiday. The grid also features the stronger partnership of indie arms and digital platforms that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and move wide at the precise moment.

A companion trend is brand curation across unified worlds and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just pushing another follow-up. They are setting up lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a reframed mood or a casting pivot that reconnects a new installment to a classic era. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating physical effects work, real effects and location-forward worlds. That fusion affords the 2026 slate a confident blend of comfort and discovery, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two centerpiece bets that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the spine, positioning the film as both a lineage transfer and a return-to-roots character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a nostalgia-forward framework without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push anchored in legacy iconography, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will double down on. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever leads horror talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated pushes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, sorrow-tinged, and logline-clear: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that turns into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a crowded corridor, with see here the Universal machine likely to replay uncanny live moments and bite-size content that mixes romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working names 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 marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s work are branded as signature events, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame gives Universal room to lead 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a gritty, practical-first approach can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror shock that emphasizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio places two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a reliable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is marketing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both franchise faithful and first-timers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around canon, and creature effects, elements that can accelerate premium format interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror built on meticulous craft and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The imprint has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is strong.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate head to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a stair-step that optimizes both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the tail. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with worldwide buys and brief theater runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library pulls, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to maximize the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival additions, securing horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events launches with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a paired of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 corridor with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clean: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to go wider. That positioning has helped for director-led genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subs.

Legacy titles versus originals

By weight, 2026 favors the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the configuration is recognizable enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Comparable trends from recent years clarify the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, precision craft horror surged in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to relate entries through cast and motif and to leave creative active without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The craft rooms behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that elevates unease and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and guild coverage before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta recalibration that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

The schedule at a glance

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 quiet contrast amid heavier IP. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the range of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

February through May seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now enables 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly 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 cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited disclosures that elevate concept over story.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and 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 proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s virtual companion turns into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: aura-driven 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 hard-edged boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the chain of command tilts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s material craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting chiller that routes the horror through a little one’s uneven subjective lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-financed and star-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that satirizes current genre trends and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 flares, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new family entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

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: undetermined. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and ancient menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why this year, why now

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical 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 capitalize on repeatable beats from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will share space across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, 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 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.