Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across major platforms

A haunting metaphysical shockfest from literary architect / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an age-old malevolence when drifters become pawns in a devilish conflict. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing journey of endurance and age-old darkness that will transform the fear genre this harvest season. Helmed by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and cinematic feature follows five unacquainted souls who emerge sealed in a cut-off shack under the dark grip of Kyra, a tormented girl claimed by a biblical-era holy text monster. Get ready to be hooked by a filmic event that merges intense horror with legendary tales, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a recurring tradition in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is flipped when the dark entities no longer descend externally, but rather from their psyche. This suggests the most sinister layer of the group. The result is a psychologically brutal inner struggle where the intensity becomes a soul-crushing confrontation between right and wrong.


In a wilderness-stricken natural abyss, five teens find themselves contained under the ominous aura and spiritual invasion of a unidentified apparition. As the ensemble becomes incapacitated to evade her control, left alone and preyed upon by evils beyond reason, they are cornered to acknowledge their worst nightmares while the seconds harrowingly counts down toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear deepens and relationships crack, demanding each figure to reconsider their self and the concept of volition itself. The stakes intensify with every second, delivering a paranormal ride that combines paranormal dread with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dive into elemental fright, an spirit born of forgotten ages, operating within fragile psyche, and challenging a entity that strips down our being when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was centered on something deeper than fear. She is unaware until the takeover begins, and that flip is emotionally raw because it is so visceral.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing households worldwide can face this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its intro video, which has attracted over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, bringing the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Experience this unforgettable voyage through terror. Face *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to face these dark realities about existence.


For film updates, making-of footage, and insider scoops from the creators, follow @YACMovie across online outlets and visit youngandcursed.com.





The horror genre’s sea change: the 2025 season stateside slate fuses primeval-possession lore, Indie Shockers, plus franchise surges

Spanning survival horror drawn from primordial scripture and including returning series as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 is coalescing into horror’s most layered in tandem with carefully orchestrated year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios set cornerstones with established lines, while digital services flood the fall with discovery plays set against legend-coded dread. On another front, indie storytellers is surfing the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween stays the prime week, the other windows are mapped with care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, notably this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are calculated, which means 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

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

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner opens the year with a headline swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Slated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: throwback unease, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time the stakes climb, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, speaking to teens and older millennials. It drops in December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Authored 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. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 clever angle. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Franchise Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Trend Lines

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The forthcoming 2026 fright lineup: next chapters, non-franchise titles, and also A brimming Calendar calibrated for chills

Dek: The brand-new terror year builds from day one with a January wave, thereafter unfolds through midyear, and far into the late-year period, weaving series momentum, inventive spins, and well-timed counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are committing to responsible budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and social-driven marketing that transform these offerings into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The horror sector has solidified as the sturdy counterweight in studio slates, a segment that can break out when it resonates and still safeguard the risk when it stumbles. After the 2023 year showed decision-makers that lean-budget chillers can command social chatter, 2024 carried the beat with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The head of steam pushed into the 2025 frame, where revivals and elevated films proved there is appetite for many shades, from returning installments to one-and-done originals that scale internationally. The takeaway for 2026 is a schedule that appears tightly organized across the industry, with mapped-out bands, a mix of marquee IP and untested plays, and a tightened focus on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and subscription services.

Studio leaders note the category now functions as a flex slot on the release plan. The genre can debut on many corridors, provide a sharp concept for previews and TikTok spots, and over-index with moviegoers that line up on first-look nights and continue through the next pass if the title delivers. On the heels of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 setup reflects belief in that logic. The year begins with a crowded January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a October build that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and into November. The gridline also spotlights the ongoing integration of indie arms and streaming partners that can build gradually, grow buzz, and widen at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is series management across ongoing universes and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are working to present continuity with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that suggests a tonal shift or a casting choice that connects a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the most watched originals are embracing practical craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That mix provides the 2026 slate a lively combination of comfort and freshness, which is the formula for international play.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount opens strong with two marquee plays that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the front, angling it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-focused installment. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a nostalgia-forward angle without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected anchored in brand visuals, initial cast looks, and a staggered trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will double down on. As a summer contrast play, this one will hunt large awareness through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format fitting quick adjustments to whatever shapes trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is crisp, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man purchases an artificial companion that unfolds into a perilous partner. The date puts it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to replay creepy live activations and bite-size content that blurs devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined my review here before. Peele’s releases are branded as director events, with a hinting teaser and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame lets the studio to command 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, hands-on effects aesthetic can feel prestige on a tight budget. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror hit that emphasizes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is framing as a reimagined restart 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 charge to serve both players and curious audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can accelerate IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

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 carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in historical precision and archaic language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a cadence that optimizes both FOMO and subscriber lifts in the tail. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to keep attention on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival grabs, timing horror entries closer to launch and elevating as drops debuts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of limited theatrical footprints and quick platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clean: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a big-screen first plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception drives. Expect 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 as partners, using targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Series vs standalone

By count, the 2026 slate leans toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on household recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to market each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and auteur plays keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Past-three-year patterns outline the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not hamper a dual release from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror popped in premium screens. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reorient and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot in tandem, creates space for marketing to relate entries through character and theme and to keep assets in-market without pause points.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The shop talk behind the 2026 slate indicate a continued preference for material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that emphasizes unease and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft features before rolling out a initial teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and produces shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta refresh that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster realization and design, which favor convention floor stunts and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel necessary. Look for trailers that accent pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that play in premium auditoriums.

From winter to holidays

January is packed. 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 atmospheric change-up amid marquee brands. The month ends 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 menu of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s 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 spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a transitional slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion becomes something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

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 meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss claw to survive on a uninhabited island as the power dynamic swivels and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting story that leverages the unease of a child’s uncertain interpretations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-grade and toplined haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 surges, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family lashed to long-buried horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-first horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: purposely secretive. 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 elemental menace. Rating: pending. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 lands now

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. 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 debuts. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete 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.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 search for sleepers 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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 momentum and variety. January is a banquet, 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 gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand power where it counts, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.