Mythic Dread stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling thriller, premiering October 2025 across global platforms

An eerie ghostly scare-fest from writer / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an prehistoric dread when strangers become conduits in a demonic trial. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing journey of endurance and age-old darkness that will transform genre cinema this season. Guided by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and cinematic motion picture follows five individuals who awaken caught in a hidden wooden structure under the oppressive grip of Kyra, a cursed figure dominated by a biblical-era holy text monster. Be warned to be ensnared by a cinematic adventure that weaves together visceral dread with timeless legends, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a enduring tradition in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the forces no longer descend externally, but rather internally. This mirrors the malevolent part of each of them. The result is a gripping mind game where the narrative becomes a unforgiving fight between light and darkness.


In a desolate woodland, five characters find themselves isolated under the ominous grip and possession of a obscure entity. As the group becomes unable to deny her command, marooned and hunted by spirits indescribable, they are made to battle their greatest panics while the clock ruthlessly moves toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust grows and friendships dissolve, coercing each soul to challenge their self and the foundation of independent thought itself. The danger escalate with every fleeting time, delivering a paranormal ride that weaves together spiritual fright with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to channel primitive panic, an spirit before modern man, operating within mental cracks, and confronting a evil that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra demanded embodying something deeper than fear. She is blind until the evil takes hold, and that shift is deeply unsettling because it is so close.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing watchers from coast to coast can be part of this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, 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 released internationally, bringing the film to global fright lovers.


Mark your calendar for this heart-stopping trip into the unknown. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to explore these ghostly lessons about inner darkness.


For exclusive trailers, behind-the-scenes content, and social posts from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit youngandcursed.com.





Today’s horror Turning Point: the year 2025 American release plan fuses myth-forward possession, underground frights, stacked beside tentpole growls

Running from endurance-driven terror drawn from primordial scripture all the way to legacy revivals as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered paired with tactically planned year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios lay down anchors with familiar IP, at the same time platform operators front-load the fall with first-wave breakthroughs paired with scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, the artisan tier is surfing the momentum of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the other windows are mapped with care. The fall stretch is the proving field, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are exacting, so 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

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

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner opens the year with a risk-forward move: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. arriving mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate sets loose the finale of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Despite a known recipe, 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 engages, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma as theme, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

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

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. 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 functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
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 is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror resurges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The next scare slate: brand plays, new stories, as well as A loaded Calendar geared toward nightmares

Dek The arriving scare cycle builds from the jump with a January wave, then stretches through peak season, and continuing into the festive period, combining marquee clout, untold stories, and well-timed counter-scheduling. The big buyers and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, box-office-first windows, and platform-native promos that shape horror entries into cross-demo moments.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The field has solidified as the sturdy lever in studio calendars, a pillar that can grow when it hits and still limit the downside when it misses. After 2023 showed studio brass that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can own the national conversation, 2024 maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The energy flowed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects proved there is room for many shades, from continued chapters to non-IP projects that play globally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that appears tightly organized across studios, with obvious clusters, a harmony of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a recommitted strategy on box-office windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and platforms.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now works like a fill-in ace on the distribution slate. Horror can arrive on a wide range of weekends, generate a tight logline for ad units and short-form placements, and punch above weight with fans that arrive on opening previews and continue through the second weekend if the film works. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 layout reflects faith in that equation. The calendar rolls out with a busy January band, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a fall cadence that carries into Halloween and into November. The grid also highlights the stronger partnership of arthouse labels and home platforms that can platform a title, create conversation, and roll out at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is brand management across shared universes and heritage properties. Major shops are not just producing another entry. They are shaping as lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title design that flags a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that ties a upcoming film to a early run. At the alongside this, the creative teams behind the eagerly awaited originals are celebrating on-set craft, on-set effects and distinct locales. That fusion provides 2026 a smart balance of home base and surprise, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two centerpiece entries that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, setting it up as both a relay and a origin-leaning relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a heritage-honoring treatment without covering again the last two entries’ sisters thread. Watch for a push driven by franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty click to read more spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick adjustments to whatever shapes the conversation that spring.

Universal has three differentiated pushes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is elegant, somber, and commercial: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that turns into a harmful mate. The date lines it up at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to revisit strange in-person beats and snackable content that interweaves intimacy and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a later trailer push that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, hands-on effects mix can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror blast that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio mounts two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is marketing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both devotees and casuals. The fall slot allows Sony to build assets around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can accelerate PLF interest 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 follows Eggers’ run of period horror defined by historical precision and dialect, this time circling werewolf lore. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal titles move to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ordering that amplifies both first-week urgency and sign-up spikes in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix acquired titles with global acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using featured rows, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to keep attention on the horror cume. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries tight to release and staging as events premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a dual-phase of limited theatrical footprints and prompt platform moves that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a situational basis. The platform has indicated interest to take on select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to check my blog meet award rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, modernized for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the fall weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the year-end corridor to open out. That positioning has been successful for arthouse horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception drives. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, 2026 favors the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The caveat, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-flavored turn from a rising filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the package is comforting enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years outline the method. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not deter a simultaneous release test from winning when the brand was trusted. In 2024, art-forward horror hit big in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel new when they change perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, permits marketing to relate entries through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The filmmaking conversations behind the year’s horror forecast a continued bias toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds tone and tension rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature craft and set design, which are ideal for fan-con activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel essential. Look for trailers that emphasize hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid headline IP. The month wraps 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 meaningful, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring load in summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a transitional slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a minimalist tease strategy and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s essence. 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 machine mate unfolds into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a shimmering 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 tough boss claw to survive on a cut-off island as the power dynamic inverts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, founded on Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting piece that leverages the panic of a child’s unreliable perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

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 send-up revival that skewers in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a unlucky family caught in older hauntings. Rating: undetermined. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: undetermined. Production: ongoing. 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 historical diction and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that slowed or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming launches. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine meme-ready beats from test screenings, select scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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-hit hunt continues in Q1, where value-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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, audio design, and imagery 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, Lined Up To Scare

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is recognizable IP where it plays, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.