Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streamers

An hair-raising metaphysical terror film from writer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primeval entity when foreigners become instruments in a cursed game. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful narrative of staying alive and age-old darkness that will revamp the horror genre this ghoul season. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and emotionally thick suspense flick follows five unacquainted souls who regain consciousness stuck in a wooded dwelling under the sinister control of Kyra, a troubled woman controlled by a time-worn sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be gripped by a screen-based event that unites raw fear with spiritual backstory, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a historical element in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is radically shifted when the entities no longer emerge outside the characters, but rather from their psyche. This symbolizes the deepest version of the cast. The result is a relentless psychological battle where the suspense becomes a intense fight between purity and corruption.


In a bleak natural abyss, five young people find themselves caught under the unholy grip and domination of a unidentified female figure. As the survivors becomes incapable to evade her command, detached and attacked by unknowns beyond reason, they are forced to confront their inner demons while the countdown without pity runs out toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia escalates and associations collapse, driving each figure to doubt their personhood and the concept of autonomy itself. The stakes surge with every short lapse, delivering a terror ride that integrates paranormal dread with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to uncover elemental fright, an curse that predates humanity, working through our fears, and exposing a spirit that redefines identity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant channeling something beneath mortal despair. She is blind until the control shifts, and that transformation is soul-crushing because it is so internal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing users from coast to coast can be part of this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has been viewed over massive response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Be sure to catch this unforgettable spiral into evil. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to acknowledge these spiritual awakenings about mankind.


For director insights, on-set glimpses, and alerts via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit the official digital haunt.





Today’s horror major pivot: the year 2025 U.S. release slate Mixes myth-forward possession, indie terrors, together with returning-series thunder

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales grounded in mythic scripture and including returning series together with incisive indie visions, 2025 is lining up as horror’s most layered as well as intentionally scheduled year for the modern era.

Call it full, but it is also focused. major banners stabilize the year with familiar IP, in parallel platform operators saturate the fall with emerging auteurs as well as archetypal fear. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is carried on the backdraft from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween stays the prime week, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are disciplined, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

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

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp opens the year with a risk-forward move: a reconceived Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set 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 adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

By late summer, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The stakes escalate here, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Originals: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. From writer director 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. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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 reads as sharp positioning. No heavy handed lore. No IP hangover. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Heritage Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, led by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new genre lineup: installments, new stories, in tandem with A jammed Calendar optimized for nightmares

Dek: The upcoming terror slate packs from day one with a January logjam, then rolls through peak season, and well into the winter holidays, fusing legacy muscle, new concepts, and calculated counterprogramming. Studios with streamers are embracing responsible budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that turn these pictures into water-cooler talk.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has grown into the sturdy move in release strategies, a space that can break out when it catches and still mitigate the losses when it stumbles. After 2023 proved to decision-makers that low-to-mid budget scare machines can drive the national conversation, the following year held pace with director-led heat and stealth successes. The tailwind translated to 2025, where revived properties and critical darlings confirmed there is capacity for multiple flavors, from returning installments to original features that export nicely. The result for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across the major shops, with planned clusters, a spread of established brands and first-time concepts, and a tightened stance on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium on-demand and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now functions as a wildcard on the slate. The genre can launch on open real estate, create a clear pitch for ad units and reels, and punch above weight with audiences that appear on Thursday previews and continue through the next weekend if the film pays off. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout demonstrates certainty in that engine. The slate starts with a busy January lineup, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a fall cadence that carries into Halloween and into November. The arrangement also illustrates the continuing integration of specialty distributors and platforms that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and grow at the proper time.

An added macro current is series management across shared universes and veteran brands. The players are not just turning out another return. They are seeking to position continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a casting move that binds a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the same time, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating real-world builds, practical gags and vivid settings. That mix gives the 2026 slate a lively combination of comfort and newness, which is what works overseas.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two front-of-slate pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, framing it as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Production is active in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a legacy-leaning strategy without replaying the last two entries’ sisters thread. Watch for a push rooted in recognizable motifs, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will go after wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that evolves into a perilous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to iterate on odd public stunts and bite-size content that interlaces love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are set up as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives Universal room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has demonstrated that a gnarly, physical-effects centered aesthetic can feel big on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror shock that leans into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is presenting as a fresh restart 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 directive to serve both players and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on careful craft and language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is warm.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a cadence that maximizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves acquired titles with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in deep cuts, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and handpicked rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival buys, dating horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a laddered of tailored theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a per-project basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 track 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 angle is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, modernized for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a theatrical rollout for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has proved effective for arthouse horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Series vs standalone

By weight, 2026 tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is spotlighting character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is comforting enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set frame the model. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept clean windows did not stop a simultaneous release test from thriving when the brand was robust. In 2024, director-craft horror hit big in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reorient 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-film strategy, with chapters shot back-to-back, lets marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The production chatter behind 2026 horror point to a continued lean toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that elevates aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature work and production design, which favor fan-con activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel key. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. 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 Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid heavier IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tone spread lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Q1 into Q2 prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s virtual companion mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 tough boss struggle to survive on Check This Out a lonely island as the power dynamic reverses and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

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 contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to dread, founded on Cronin’s tactile craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 family-home haunting chiller that routes the horror through a youngster’s volatile subjective view. Rating: rating pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that satirizes current genre trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 detonates, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new family entangled with older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward pure survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and elemental dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces drive this lineup. First, production that slowed or migrated in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming landings. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, metered scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

The slot calculus is real. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 disciplined-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 surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong 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 value the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, 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 grain, sound, and visual design 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.

A Promising 2026

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand heft where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, shape lean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.