Age-old Dread Stirs within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding horror thriller, rolling out October 2025 on premium platforms

A terrifying unearthly fright fest from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten terror when foreigners become conduits in a cursed conflict. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving saga of endurance and mythic evil that will reconstruct scare flicks this October. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and moody thriller follows five teens who are stirred isolated in a hidden lodge under the ominous manipulation of Kyra, a cursed figure inhabited by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Anticipate to be drawn in by a audio-visual event that unites deep-seated panic with legendary tales, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a recurring fixture in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is twisted when the dark entities no longer emerge from beyond, but rather deep within. This portrays the malevolent side of every character. The result is a intense emotional conflict where the intensity becomes a brutal clash between divinity and wickedness.


In a wilderness-stricken outland, five campers find themselves stuck under the evil influence and curse of a obscure female presence. As the victims becomes paralyzed to fight her manipulation, detached and followed by beings beyond comprehension, they are cornered to stand before their worst nightmares while the seconds ruthlessly pushes forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion grows and teams break, urging each protagonist to doubt their true nature and the philosophy of decision-making itself. The intensity mount with every short lapse, delivering a paranormal ride that intertwines otherworldly suspense with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore primitive panic, an darkness beyond recorded history, emerging via mental cracks, and challenging a spirit that questions who we are when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant evoking something darker than pain. She is insensitive until the demon emerges, and that flip is harrowing because it is so private.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing households internationally can enjoy this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has seen over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, exporting the fear to horror fans worldwide.


Mark your calendar for this heart-stopping trip into the unknown. Watch *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to witness these chilling revelations about mankind.


For featurettes, production news, and alerts from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across social media and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror decisive shift: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate interlaces old-world possession, indie terrors, plus IP aftershocks

Across last-stand terror infused with legendary theology all the way to canon extensions paired with pointed art-house angles, 2025 stands to become the most complex along with deliberate year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners plant stakes across the year with known properties, even as OTT services stack the fall with fresh voices as well as scriptural shivers. On the festival side, horror’s indie wing is buoyed by the echoes of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are surgical, therefore 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s distribution arm kicks off the frame with an audacious swing: a modernized Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

By late summer, Warner’s schedule bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re boards, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Originals: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters 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 script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn with Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to 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 swings back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming fear year to come: returning titles, standalone ideas, And A hectic Calendar calibrated for screams

Dek The emerging scare year crams in short order with a January crush, then rolls through the mid-year, and far into the December corridor, fusing name recognition, novel approaches, and tactical counterprogramming. The major players are relying on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that elevate these pictures into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has established itself as the surest play in distribution calendars, a genre that can surge when it catches and still hedge the drawdown when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that modestly budgeted pictures can lead mainstream conversation, 2024 extended the rally with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is appetite for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to filmmaker-driven originals that scale internationally. The sum for 2026 is a slate that presents tight coordination across the industry, with strategic blocks, a blend of familiar brands and new concepts, and a re-energized focus on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Studio leaders note the category now works like a versatile piece on the slate. The genre can kick off on numerous frames, create a simple premise for promo reels and shorts, and exceed norms with demo groups that arrive on previews Thursday and return through the next pass if the entry pays off. Coming out of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 setup signals belief in that logic. The year starts with a busy January band, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while carving room for a fall run that runs into spooky season and afterwards. The grid also spotlights the tightening integration of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can stage a platform run, spark evangelism, and expand at the optimal moment.

A notable top-line trend is brand curation across shared IP webs and storied titles. The players are not just releasing another sequel. They are shaping as ongoing narrative with a headline quality, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a re-angled tone or a star attachment that binds a next film to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are returning to practical craft, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That mix yields 2026 a lively combination of trust and invention, which is what works overseas.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the spine, presenting it as both a handoff and a foundation-forward character-centered film. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance suggests a roots-evoking mode without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek broad awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three discrete releases. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man installs an AI companion that mutates into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to bring back uncanny live moments and short-form creative that fuses love and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an marketing beat closer to the early tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s pictures are presented as event films, with a opaque teaser and a second wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway lets the studio to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven style can feel high-value on a efficient spend. Expect a gore-forward summer horror jolt that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio launches two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is selling as a new foundation 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 mission to serve both longtime followers and curious audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build promo materials around mythos, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost premium booking interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s horror titles shift to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a sequence that enhances both launch urgency and platform bumps in the back half. Prime Video balances acquired titles with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using well-timed internal promotions, Halloween hubs, and collection rows to prolong the run on the 2026 genre total. Netflix retains agility about Netflix films and festival wins, slotting horror entries toward the drop and turning into events go-lives with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a tiered of precision releases and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to board select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation peaks.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is curating a 2026 track with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, refined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the fall weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then working the year-end corridor to move out. That positioning has paid off 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 often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception drives. Plan on 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 jointly, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to present each entry click site as a fresh tone. Paramount is spotlighting character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the package is comforting enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps contextualize the playbook. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that respected streaming windows did not stop a parallel release from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they pivot perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Production craft signals

The creative meetings behind these films telegraph a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that underscores grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature craft and set design, which match well with fan conventions and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that center surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that work in PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is jammed. Universal’s 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 tonal palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late winter and spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s core. 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 evolves into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 struggle to survive on a rugged island as the pecking order reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting tale that interrogates the chill of a child’s shaky perceptions. Rating: TBD. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-financed and headline-actor led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that teases modern genre fads and true crime fascinations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 erupts, 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: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family lashed to old terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-driven horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: forthcoming. Production: underway. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and pared-down 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 releases. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on meme-ready beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will coexist across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 chase continues in Q1, where midrange-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 exploit those windows. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, 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 warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound field, 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.