Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a chilling supernatural thriller, landing October 2025 on premium platforms

One chilling mystic fright fest from author / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an mythic fear when strangers become proxies in a diabolical ritual. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing depiction of resilience and forgotten curse that will redefine fear-driven cinema this Halloween season. Helmed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and eerie screenplay follows five people who emerge caught in a remote shelter under the malevolent manipulation of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a biblical-era biblical force. Ready yourself to be shaken by a immersive presentation that integrates soul-chilling terror with biblical origins, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a legendary foundation in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is twisted when the spirits no longer come from beyond, but rather from their psyche. This illustrates the most primal version of every character. The result is a riveting inner struggle where the events becomes a soul-crushing battle between right and wrong.


In a haunting forest, five individuals find themselves cornered under the possessive rule and haunting of a mysterious spirit. As the companions becomes unable to deny her dominion, detached and followed by evils beyond comprehension, they are obligated to face their deepest fears while the deathwatch harrowingly winds toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion swells and ties splinter, urging each individual to rethink their character and the philosophy of autonomy itself. The cost rise with every minute, delivering a cinematic nightmare that merges occult fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to uncover elemental fright, an darkness from ancient eras, manipulating our weaknesses, and testing a evil that redefines identity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra asked for exploring something beneath mortal despair. She is blind until the takeover begins, and that shift is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be released for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving households from coast to coast can enjoy this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original clip, which has racked up over 100,000 views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable ride through nightmares. Face *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to explore these evil-rooted truths about human nature.


For bonus footage, extra content, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across media channels and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s tipping point: calendar year 2025 stateside slate Mixes archetypal-possession themes, independent shockers, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

From endurance-driven terror drawn from mythic scripture all the way to franchise returns and pointed art-house angles, 2025 is emerging as the most complex plus tactically planned year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. major banners are anchoring the year through proven series, at the same time streamers flood the fall with unboxed visions alongside mythic dread. Across the art-house lane, indie storytellers is catching the afterglow from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are calculated, which means 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal banner opens the year with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. timed for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, the WB camp bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It books December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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 menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 a clever angle. No swollen lore. No legacy baggage. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

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

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. 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.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The approaching Horror release year: entries, non-franchise titles, And A busy Calendar tailored for Scares

Dek: The emerging terror slate builds up front with a January wave, after that carries through the warm months, and running into the late-year period, weaving brand equity, original angles, and shrewd alternatives. Studios with streamers are prioritizing smart costs, theatrical leads, and influencer-ready assets that position genre titles into broad-appeal conversations.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This category has shown itself to be the steady option in studio slates, a lane that can spike when it resonates and still hedge the risk when it falls short. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for strategy teams that responsibly budgeted genre plays can shape cultural conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and surprise hits. The tailwind rolled into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and critical darlings showed there is a market for diverse approaches, from series extensions to director-led originals that export nicely. The upshot for 2026 is a grid that appears tightly organized across studios, with intentional bunching, a balance of recognizable IP and new concepts, and a reinvigorated eye on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium home window and SVOD.

Planners observe the genre now acts as a utility player on the grid. Horror can launch on most weekends, supply a sharp concept for ad units and vertical videos, and outperform with moviegoers that arrive on advance nights and hold through the second frame if the movie pays off. Exiting a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 layout underscores faith in that approach. The calendar rolls out with a weighty January window, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while leaving room for a fall cadence that pushes into the fright window and into the next week. The map also illustrates the tightening integration of indie distributors and platforms that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and widen at the optimal moment.

A parallel macro theme is series management across shared IP webs and storied titles. Big banners are not just producing another installment. They are working to present continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that announces a new tone or a casting move that binds a upcoming film to a early run. At the same time, the auteurs behind the most anticipated originals are returning to on-set craft, physical gags and specific settings. That fusion produces the 2026 slate a lively combination of comfort and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two headline projects that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a baton pass and a DNA-forward character-first story. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach indicates a classic-referencing treatment without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign centered on classic imagery, early character teases, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical via 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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will lean on. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue mass reach through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick shifts to whatever rules horror talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, somber, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an synthetic partner that becomes a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay eerie street stunts and bite-size content that threads affection and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title drop to become an headline beat closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are branded as director events, with a minimalist tease and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to own 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, practical-first approach can feel big on a controlled budget. Look for a red-band summer horror shot that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a proven supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is describing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around world-building, and monster design, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants 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 grounded in textural authenticity and archaic language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films feed copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that maximizes both initial urgency and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix licensed content with worldwide buys and brief theater runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about first-party entries and festival grabs, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of selective theatrical runs and speedy platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 track 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 tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, retooled for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception allows. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night turnout.

Three-year comps illuminate the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive window model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a day-date move from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in premium screens. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 consecutively, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to hold creative in the market without extended gaps.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind the upcoming entries signal a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that spotlights mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called 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 textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta reframe that centers its original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature work and production design, which favor con floor moments and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

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 gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month winds down 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 stiff, but the spread of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late winter and spring seed summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a opaque tease strategy and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. imp source If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card use.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s machine mate mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: gothic-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 demanding boss struggle to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power reverses and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 closed-door haunting setup that filters its scares through a kid’s wavering subjective lens. Rating: forthcoming. Production: wrapped. 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 involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody return that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new household entangled with long-buried horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-driven horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: pending. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 era-accurate language and elemental menace. Rating: pending. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces inform this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 dumps. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest shareable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will share space across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with imp source minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, 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 smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, 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 dimensionality, audio design, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is IP strength where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, protect the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.