Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases antediluvian malevolence, a chilling supernatural thriller, landing October 2025 across top digital platforms

This hair-raising spectral fear-driven tale from narrative craftsman / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an mythic malevolence when unfamiliar people become conduits in a diabolical experiment. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching tale of resilience and primeval wickedness that will reconstruct scare flicks this scare season. Produced by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and claustrophobic fearfest follows five strangers who regain consciousness locked in a hidden shack under the hostile command of Kyra, a troubled woman overtaken by a 2,000-year-old religious nightmare. Steel yourself to be immersed by a big screen adventure that intertwines primitive horror with ancient myths, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a time-honored theme in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is reimagined when the entities no longer originate beyond the self, but rather deep within. This suggests the most hidden aspect of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal psychological battle where the drama becomes a relentless tug-of-war between right and wrong.


In a desolate forest, five souls find themselves cornered under the malevolent dominion and infestation of a uncanny apparition. As the survivors becomes powerless to withstand her curse, disconnected and chased by presences unimaginable, they are required to encounter their darkest emotions while the doomsday meter without pause counts down toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread rises and teams break, driving each character to examine their being and the foundation of free will itself. The cost accelerate with every breath, delivering a fear-soaked story that harmonizes unearthly horror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to uncover elemental fright, an presence that predates humanity, embedding itself in soul-level flaws, and challenging a presence that forces self-examination when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra needed manifesting something far beyond human desperation. She is ignorant until the demon emerges, and that transformation is deeply unsettling because it is so deep.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring fans in all regions can be part of this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has received over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, taking the terror to international horror buffs.


Do not miss this mind-warping path of possession. Watch *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to see these unholy truths about inner darkness.


For director insights, behind-the-scenes content, and updates from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursed across your favorite networks and visit the official digital haunt.





American horror’s sea change: 2025 American release plan melds myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside series shake-ups

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories rooted in ancient scripture as well as series comebacks in concert with focused festival visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most textured and blueprinted year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios lay down anchors with established lines, even as SVOD players flood the fall with unboxed visions as well as primordial unease. On the independent axis, the art-house flank is carried on the afterglow from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are disciplined, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

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

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal leads off the quarter with a statement play: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a sharp contemporary setting. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the tone that worked before is intact: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, courting teens and the thirty something base. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

While the big screen favors titles you know, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror duet led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is an astute call. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. 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 Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trend Lines

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The next chiller season: returning titles, non-franchise titles, And A Crowded Calendar Built For goosebumps

Dek The arriving horror slate builds from day one with a January crush, after that unfolds through summer, and pushing into the December corridor, weaving IP strength, new concepts, and tactical counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are leaning into mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-fueled campaigns that transform genre titles into national conversation.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror marketplace has become the bankable move in studio lineups, a category that can accelerate when it performs and still limit the drawdown when it does not. After the 2023 year signaled to executives that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can dominate the zeitgeist, the following year extended the rally with buzzy auteur projects and surprise hits. The run translated to 2025, where resurrections and prestige plays highlighted there is a lane for several lanes, from brand follow-ups to filmmaker-driven originals that translate worldwide. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a calendar that looks unusually coordinated across the market, with purposeful groupings, a spread of recognizable IP and fresh ideas, and a re-energized focus on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Buyers contend the horror lane now behaves like a schedule utility on the calendar. Horror can launch on a wide range of weekends, provide a sharp concept for trailers and reels, and exceed norms with fans that lean in on first-look nights and maintain momentum through the second weekend if the feature pays off. Post a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 rhythm indicates belief in that model. The slate commences with a stacked January run, then targets spring into early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that flows toward Halloween and into post-Halloween. The map also underscores the expanded integration of specialty distributors and home platforms that can grow from platform, ignite recommendations, and widen at the timely point.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across connected story worlds and long-running brands. Studios are not just mounting another entry. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a specialness, whether that is a title design that flags a fresh attitude or a lead change that bridges a upcoming film to a vintage era. At the same time, the auteurs behind the high-profile originals are favoring material texture, practical gags and distinct locales. That mix delivers the 2026 slate a confident blend of known notes and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline plays that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a lineage transfer and a classic-mode character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance telegraphs a fan-service aware bent without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. Count on a promo wave fueled by heritage visuals, character previews, and a tease cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three discrete bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is crisp, heartbroken, and commercial: a grieving man sets up an intelligent companion that evolves into a fatal companion. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with the Universal machine likely to iterate on uncanny-valley stunts and bite-size content that fuses love and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a title reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s work are sold as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser that reveals little and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-October frame offers Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has proven that a gnarly, hands-on effects strategy can feel premium on a disciplined budget. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror shot that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio lines up two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, continuing a bankable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is selling 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 well-defined brief to serve both longtime followers and novices. The fall slot provides the studio time to build promo materials around canon, and monster craft, elements that can stoke PLF interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror built on minute detail and period speech, this time set against lycan legends. The company has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a structure that maximizes both FOMO and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video balances acquired titles with cross-border buys and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in deep cuts, using in-app campaigns, fright rows, and staff picks to extend momentum on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival pickups, locking in horror entries closer to drop and making event-like launches with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of precision releases and short jumps to platform that translates talk to trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 lane with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clear: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, updated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a big-screen first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has paid off for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using mini theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Balance of brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit household recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a new voice. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. 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 crash-survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the assembly is grounded enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns outline the playbook. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not preclude a simultaneous release test from performing when the brand was powerful. In 2024, director-craft horror outperformed in premium formats. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and expand the canvas. 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 double feature plan, with chapters shot Young & Cursed back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to keep assets alive without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind this slate point to a continued lean toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that underscores creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for textured sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which align with convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel key. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

How the year maps out

January is busy. 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 foggy reset amid bigger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the menu of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring tee up summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late summer into fall leans series. 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 steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s intelligent companion mutates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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 run into a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss battle to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance flips and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: A-list 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 retelling that returns the monster to chill, founded on Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting tale that manipulates the dread of a child’s uncertain perceptions. Rating: to be announced. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that lampoons modern genre fads and true-crime crazes. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: not yet rated. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 historical diction and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why this year, why now

Three execution-level forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, clearing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 underdog 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 maximize those pockets. 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. 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, 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 escalate across the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound field, and cinematography 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is name recognition where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.