Ancient Evil stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across major platforms

A frightening otherworldly fright fest from narrative craftsman / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an timeless evil when unfamiliar people become victims in a demonic conflict. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing chronicle of living through and prehistoric entity that will reshape the fear genre this fall. Visualized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and gothic motion picture follows five unacquainted souls who are stirred caught in a hidden shack under the menacing power of Kyra, a mysterious girl controlled by a 2,000-year-old scriptural evil. Be prepared to be enthralled by a screen-based ride that integrates soul-chilling terror with ancient myths, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a enduring tradition in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is turned on its head when the spirits no longer emerge from external sources, but rather within themselves. This suggests the most terrifying corner of each of them. The result is a emotionally raw internal warfare where the narrative becomes a ongoing struggle between good and evil.


In a haunting backcountry, five friends find themselves sealed under the sinister aura and possession of a obscure woman. As the team becomes powerless to withstand her rule, abandoned and preyed upon by evils unfathomable, they are thrust to confront their core terrors while the seconds without pause winds toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear grows and links dissolve, coercing each survivor to evaluate their character and the philosophy of volition itself. The tension surge with every minute, delivering a frightening tale that fuses unearthly horror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to uncover primitive panic, an spirit older than civilization itself, embedding itself in soul-level flaws, and dealing with a force that erodes the self when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra meant evoking something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the entity awakens, and that evolution is emotionally raw because it is so close.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing viewers in all regions can experience this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original clip, which has seen over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, exporting the fear to international horror buffs.


Join this gripping descent into hell. Stream *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to uncover these spiritual awakenings about existence.


For exclusive trailers, making-of footage, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit our film’s homepage.





Modern horror’s major pivot: calendar year 2025 stateside slate integrates ancient-possession motifs, art-house nightmares, in parallel with returning-series thunder

From life-or-death fear suffused with near-Eastern lore all the way to legacy revivals alongside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified and strategic year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors set cornerstones by way of signature titles, in parallel SVOD players load up the fall with fresh voices paired with primordial unease. Meanwhile, festival-forward creators is buoyed by the backdraft from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween holding the peak, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures begins the calendar with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, the WB camp drops the final chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: 70s style chill, trauma as narrative engine, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, speaking to teens and older millennials. It books December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a room scale body horror descent including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga with Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No bloated mythology. No canon weight. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. 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. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

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

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

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

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forecast: Fall saturation and a winter joker

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming fear season: Sequels, Originals, in tandem with A Crowded Calendar Built For nightmares

Dek: The current genre slate stacks up front with a January pile-up, from there flows through peak season, and running into the year-end corridor, combining IP strength, new voices, and strategic calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into tight budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and viral-minded pushes that pivot genre titles into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has emerged as the consistent tool in distribution calendars, a lane that can break out when it connects and still protect the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 proved to studio brass that modestly budgeted entries can shape the national conversation, the following year carried the beat with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The run extended into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and critical darlings demonstrated there is a market for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that translate worldwide. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a slate that presents tight coordination across players, with planned clusters, a harmony of established brands and original hooks, and a re-energized focus on cinema windows that feed downstream value on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Executives say the space now serves as a flex slot on the programming map. Horror can debut on many corridors, create a sharp concept for promo reels and UGC-friendly snippets, and over-index with audiences that respond on first-look nights and maintain momentum through the sophomore frame if the entry hits. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout shows comfort in that engine. The slate launches with a stacked January corridor, then taps spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while carving room for a fall corridor that reaches into holiday-adjacent weekends and into November. The map also underscores the deeper integration of indie distributors and SVOD players that can nurture a platform play, grow buzz, and scale up at the inflection point.

A notable top-line trend is series management across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. The players are not just mounting another next film. They are looking to package story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that reconnects a upcoming film to a early run. At the simultaneously, the writer-directors behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on tactile craft, practical gags and distinct locales. That fusion produces the 2026 slate a lively combination of brand comfort and surprise, which is how the films export.

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

Paramount leads early with two marquee pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the center, presenting it as both a succession moment and a return-to-roots character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a heritage-honoring approach without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Watch for a push anchored in franchise iconography, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first 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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, melancholic, and easily pitched: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that grows into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo viral uncanny stunts and quick hits that melds romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with see here Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title drop to become an event moment closer to the first look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His entries are sold as auteur events, with a mystery-first teaser and a follow-up trailer set that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-October frame opens a lane to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gnarly, makeup-driven aesthetic can feel high-value on a controlled budget. Frame it as a red-band summer horror jolt that pushes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio places two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, carrying a proven supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is marketing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both players and first-timers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can drive PLF interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror built on meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is glowing.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform tactics for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a sequence that expands both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the later phase. Prime Video balances licensed titles with worldwide buys and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in archive usage, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival additions, dating horror entries on shorter runways and framing as events debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a per-project basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 pipeline with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. 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 hinted a big-screen first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday corridor to go wider. That click to read more positioning has helped for director-led genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception justifies. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited runs to seed evangelism that fuels their membership.

Legacy titles versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to brand each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is elevating character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a rising filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded navigate here survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the deal build is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Three-year comps illuminate the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that preserved streaming windows did not deter a dual release from winning when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel new when they alter lens and widen scale. 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 back-to-back, allows marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to leave creative active without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind this slate point to a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that spotlights texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for textured sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and sparks shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which favor booth activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

Calendar cadence

January is full. 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 finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the variety of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can connect 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 rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a bridge slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that put concept first.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 hard-edged boss claw to survive on a isolated island as the chain of command swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 modern reconception that returns the monster to fright, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 family-home haunting chiller that pipes the unease through a minor’s shifting personal vantage. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed and headline-actor led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that teases of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new family tethered to old terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-first horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026, why now

Three practical forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-slotted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 pattern and spread. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, soundscape, and visuals 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, Ready To Roar

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is name recognition where it counts, 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the screams sell the seats.