Mythic Terror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising feature, bowing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An spine-tingling supernatural horror tale from writer / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an prehistoric horror when passersby become tokens in a diabolical contest. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching story of struggle and ancient evil that will reimagine horror this season. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and emotionally thick story follows five strangers who are stirred isolated in a cut-off hideaway under the unfriendly power of Kyra, a cursed figure controlled by a millennia-old biblical demon. Be prepared to be ensnared by a theatrical journey that melds soul-chilling terror with mythic lore, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a mainstay concept in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is redefined when the spirits no longer come beyond the self, but rather inside them. This illustrates the haunting aspect of all involved. The result is a emotionally raw mind game where the suspense becomes a intense tug-of-war between purity and corruption.


In a haunting landscape, five friends find themselves cornered under the sinister effect and possession of a unknown female figure. As the group becomes helpless to resist her grasp, stranded and preyed upon by forces inconceivable, they are cornered to deal with their core terrors while the final hour brutally moves toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion grows and relationships crack, prompting each participant to doubt their existence and the structure of volition itself. The cost accelerate with every tick, delivering a chilling narrative that connects unearthly horror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon ancestral fear, an force rooted in antiquity, manipulating emotional fractures, and testing a evil that dismantles free will when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something deeper than fear. She is innocent until the evil takes hold, and that turn is deeply unsettling because it is so emotional.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing customers worldwide can watch this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has earned over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, extending the thrill to international horror buffs.


Be sure to catch this gripping path of possession. Face *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to uncover these dark realities about mankind.


For teasers, on-set glimpses, and announcements from the cast and crew, follow @YACMovie across online outlets and visit our spooky domain.





The horror genre’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 American release plan blends legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Moving from grit-forward survival fare steeped in near-Eastern lore and including IP renewals paired with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is shaping up as the richest in tandem with tactically planned year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Major studios hold down the year with known properties, concurrently SVOD players load up the fall with debut heat plus primordial unease. Meanwhile, the art-house flank is buoyed by the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween stays the prime week, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are targeted, which means 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with a big gambit: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer winds down, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re teams, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: old school creep, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This pass pushes higher, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The new chapter enriches the lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Firsts: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale starring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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 an astute call. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

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

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

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

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Long Running Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. 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, under Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If packaged well, it could track like 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.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 genre lineup: entries, filmmaker-first projects, plus A brimming Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek The upcoming scare year crowds right away with a January pile-up, subsequently stretches through peak season, and far into the holiday stretch, mixing marquee clout, fresh ideas, and well-timed calendar placement. The major players are focusing on lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that transform these offerings into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the surest move in annual schedules, a lane that can accelerate when it connects and still insulate the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 reminded buyers that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can galvanize mainstream conversation, 2024 maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and unexpected risers. The head of steam pushed into 2025, where revived properties and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is space for varied styles, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that perform internationally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a run that is strikingly coherent across studios, with clear date clusters, a mix of household franchises and novel angles, and a reinvigorated emphasis on exhibition windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital and SVOD.

Planners observe the space now acts as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can premiere on virtually any date, furnish a sharp concept for marketing and short-form placements, and outperform with fans that respond on Thursday previews and sustain through the second frame if the title delivers. Exiting a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm signals faith in that setup. The year commences with a loaded January block, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a late-year stretch that runs into spooky season and past the holiday. The calendar also reflects the deeper integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and scale up at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across ongoing universes and established properties. Major shops are not just turning out another sequel. They are setting up threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a art treatment that announces a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that ties a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the concurrently, the creative teams behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing material texture, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That convergence hands 2026 a strong blend of home base and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a rootsy character-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a fan-service aware mode without covering again the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave centered on legacy iconography, character previews, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will go after large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three unique pushes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man adopts an algorithmic mate that unfolds into a perilous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on creepy live activations and bite-size content that interlaces love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are sold as filmmaker events, with a opaque teaser and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a gnarly, practical-effects forward execution can feel premium on a lean spend. Look for a gore-forward summer horror shock that leans hard into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, keeping a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is framing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and creature work, elements that can increase deluxe auditorium demand and fan events.

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 Eggers’ run of period horror built on meticulous craft and language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a structure that amplifies both initial urgency and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with worldwide entries and brief theater runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using editorial spots, genre hubs, and curated rows to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival snaps, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a hybrid of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a situational basis. The platform has signaled readiness to buy select projects with name filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 runway 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 proposition is tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, reimagined for modern audio and picture. 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 suggested a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has shown results for craft-driven horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception justifies. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their user base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, 2026 favors the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to brand each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and director-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the package is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years help explain the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not block a day-date try from working when the brand was strong. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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 thread films through cast and motif and to leave creative active without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued emphasis on material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta reframe that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which are ideal for convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel must-have. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

January is loaded. 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 foggy reset amid heavier IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tonal variety lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 stage summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop 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 run their PLF course.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s machine mate shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the hierarchy reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to chill, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting narrative that routes the horror through a child’s uneven subjective view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in the can. 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 rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satire sequel that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true crime fervors. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a fresh family snared by lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A new start designed to re-engineer the movies franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and ancient menace. Rating: pending. 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 inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming launches. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space 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 helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can make hay in 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 array, 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 leans brutal, 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, lean footprints, 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 visual texture, soundscape, and camera work 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 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the fear sell the seats.