Ancient Malevolence returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, rolling out October 2025 on global platforms

This chilling unearthly terror film from dramatist / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an long-buried fear when strangers become subjects in a demonic trial. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping account of perseverance and old world terror that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this Halloween season. Realized by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and cinematic thriller follows five unknowns who come to stuck in a wooded lodge under the malevolent manipulation of Kyra, a central character occupied by a antiquated sacrosanct terror. Be warned to be absorbed by a screen-based display that fuses intense horror with folklore, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is reversed when the dark entities no longer develop from elsewhere, but rather within themselves. This represents the shadowy element of the players. The result is a relentless mind game where the events becomes a relentless clash between innocence and sin.


In a unforgiving outland, five friends find themselves contained under the ghastly sway and curse of a elusive being. As the youths becomes vulnerable to deny her influence, abandoned and hunted by evils mind-shattering, they are required to face their raw vulnerabilities while the doomsday meter coldly winds toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion swells and connections erode, requiring each cast member to challenge their essence and the foundation of decision-making itself. The danger rise with every short lapse, delivering a scare-fueled ride that marries paranormal dread with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to tap into raw dread, an threat rooted in antiquity, working through emotional vulnerability, and examining a entity that strips down our being when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra needed manifesting something beneath mortal despair. She is clueless until the spirit seizes her, and that shift is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be released for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing subscribers worldwide can survive this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its first trailer, which has earned over 100K plays.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, spreading the horror to a worldwide audience.


Mark your calendar for this soul-jarring path of possession. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this launch day to witness these spiritual awakenings about free will.


For exclusive trailers, set experiences, and social posts from the creators, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit the official website.





The horror genre’s Turning Point: 2025 U.S. Slate Mixes biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

Beginning with grit-forward survival fare drawn from primordial scripture and extending to canon extensions as well as sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified and calculated campaign year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. leading studios lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, concurrently subscription platforms stack the fall with discovery plays paired with ancestral chills. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is buoyed by the echoes from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, however this time, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a risk-forward move: a contemporary Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. 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. Slated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer winds down, Warner’s slate drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, 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 arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and the memorable motifs return: retro dread, trauma centered writing, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The follow up digs further into canon, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Digital Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror duet including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

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

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are more runway than museum.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror retakes ground
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

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 key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The forthcoming 2026 fear season: returning titles, original films, paired with A Crowded Calendar designed for shocks

Dek The brand-new genre slate builds from day one with a January glut, subsequently unfolds through the mid-year, and running into the year-end corridor, fusing marquee clout, original angles, and strategic counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are relying on efficient budgets, box-office-first windows, and platform-native promos that turn these pictures into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The field has grown into the surest release in studio calendars, a vertical that can spike when it lands and still limit the liability when it fails to connect. After 2023 reconfirmed for greenlighters that efficiently budgeted horror vehicles can steer pop culture, the following year held pace with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam carried into 2025, where legacy revivals and critical darlings proved there is appetite for varied styles, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the market, with defined corridors, a harmony of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a renewed attention on exclusive windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Planners observe the category now works like a versatile piece on the slate. Horror can premiere on numerous frames, furnish a tight logline for previews and TikTok spots, and outstrip with viewers that arrive on Thursday nights and continue through the next weekend if the feature hits. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 plan signals trust in that playbook. The calendar gets underway with a loaded January window, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a fall run that extends to the fright window and beyond. The grid also features the expanded integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

An added macro current is legacy care across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. Distribution groups are not just pushing another chapter. They are working to present connection with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a recalibrated tone or a casting move that threads a new installment to a classic era. At the concurrently, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are championing hands-on technique, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That convergence hands 2026 a vital pairing of comfort and freshness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a relay and a origin-leaning character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative posture conveys a throwback-friendly angle without retreading the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected rooted in heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever owns genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three differentiated entries. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, soulful, and logline-clear: a grieving man sets up an virtual partner that mutates into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s team likely to bring back creepy live activations and short reels that interweaves companionship and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the opening teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s pictures are branded as creative events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The pre-Halloween slot offers Universal room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a visceral, practical-first approach can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror blast that maximizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio mounts two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, carrying a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is billing as a reimagined 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 charge to serve both fans and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around canon, and creature work, elements that can boost IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Digital strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s horror titles land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that maximizes both week-one demand and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video combines catalogue additions with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and curated strips to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival wins, securing horror entries closer to launch and turning into events drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is tight: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a theatrical-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, shepherding the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday dates to move out. That positioning has served the company well for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception allows. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their audience.

Balance of brands and originals

By number, 2026 favors the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit legacy awareness. The challenge, as ever, is fatigue. The go-to fix is to pitch each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a continental coloration from a ascendant talent. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is assuring enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps make sense of the logic. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they pivot perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot consecutively, builds a path for marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to hold creative in the market without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror indicate a continued lean toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and produces shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta refresh that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature work and production design, which play well in convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in big rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is full. 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 headline IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the range of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Q1 into Q2 stage summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects 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 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s artificial companion turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: mood-led 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 unyielding boss fight to survive on a far-flung island as the hierarchy tilts and mistrust rises. 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 yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, founded on Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting narrative that pipes the unease through a youngster’s volatile subjective lens. Rating: TBD. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that riffs on current genre trends and true crime fervors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 ignites, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new household caught in lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. 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 raw menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify turnkey scare beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. 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, making room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will share space across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. 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.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

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

The 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, 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 spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July 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 heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, 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 materiality, sound field, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to news open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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, shape lean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.