Primordial Dread emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, rolling out October 2025 on major streaming services

One hair-raising occult terror film from author / director Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an ancient evil when newcomers become tools in a supernatural contest. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching chronicle of continuance and age-old darkness that will revolutionize terror storytelling this harvest season. Guided by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and gothic fearfest follows five unknowns who come to trapped in a cut-off cottage under the malevolent control of Kyra, a tormented girl haunted by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Arm yourself to be drawn in by a immersive ride that weaves together primitive horror with mystical narratives, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a iconic pillar in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is twisted when the dark entities no longer originate beyond the self, but rather from deep inside. This depicts the most primal dimension of the protagonists. The result is a relentless moral showdown where the tension becomes a intense tug-of-war between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote wilderness, five youths find themselves confined under the sinister effect and domination of a elusive female figure. As the cast becomes unable to break her grasp, isolated and pursued by beings unimaginable, they are required to wrestle with their inner horrors while the seconds unforgivingly draws closer toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease surges and relationships shatter, forcing each protagonist to challenge their essence and the notion of independent thought itself. The stakes surge with every heartbeat, delivering a chilling narrative that connects otherworldly panic with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to awaken ancestral fear, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, working through human fragility, and testing a darkness that erodes the self when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra called for internalizing something rooted in terror. She is clueless until the entity awakens, and that conversion is bone-chilling because it is so unshielded.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring watchers in all regions can be part of this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has been viewed over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, taking the terror to a worldwide audience.


Witness this life-altering path of possession. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to face these chilling revelations about human nature.


For film updates, director cuts, and press updates from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across social media and visit our horror hub.





U.S. horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 in focus U.S. rollouts weaves legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

From survivor-centric dread drawn from legendary theology to returning series plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into the richest paired with calculated campaign year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, even as streaming platforms pack the fall with discovery plays alongside archetypal fear. On the independent axis, independent banners is carried on the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The fall stretch is the proving field, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are calculated, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the base, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal banner begins the calendar with a marquee bet: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in an immediate now. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, the Warner Bros. banner sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: period tinged dread, trauma explicitly handled, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time the stakes climb, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a close quarters body horror study with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of 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 unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy IP: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated 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, from Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Dials to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
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: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 spook cycle: installments, universe starters, plus A loaded Calendar calibrated for screams

Dek The emerging scare slate packs immediately with a January cluster, thereafter stretches through June and July, and pushing into the holiday frame, balancing brand heft, fresh ideas, and shrewd counterplay. Distributors with platforms are leaning into lean spends, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that shape these offerings into culture-wide discussion.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has shown itself to be the sturdy option in release plans, a genre that can expand when it connects and still insulate the risk when it falls short. After 2023 reminded executives that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can dominate cultural conversation, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The carry rolled into the 2025 frame, where reboots and elevated films proved there is a lane for several lanes, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that perform internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a programming that reads highly synchronized across studios, with intentional bunching, a mix of recognizable IP and fresh ideas, and a reinvigorated commitment on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital and SVOD.

Schedulers say the category now behaves like a schedule utility on the calendar. The genre can open on virtually any date, deliver a tight logline for creative and shorts, and outpace with patrons that come out on opening previews and stick through the follow-up frame if the picture works. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 pattern reflects trust in that equation. The year kicks off with a loaded January lineup, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a autumn stretch that stretches into spooky season and past the holiday. The program also highlights the increasing integration of indie distributors and subscription services that can build gradually, build word of mouth, and widen at the optimal moment.

An added macro current is brand management across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. The players are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are moving to present lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that signals a refreshed voice or a cast configuration that anchors a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the very same time, the helmers behind the marquee originals are leaning into real-world builds, physical gags and grounded locations. That interplay hands 2026 a strong blend of recognition and shock, which is why the genre exports well.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two headline plays that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the lead, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a heritage-centered character study. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach announces a legacy-leaning framework without retreading the last two entries’ family thread. Anticipate a campaign stacked with heritage visuals, intro reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm hitting 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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will build general-audience talk through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three defined projects. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is elegant, loss-driven, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an machine companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with the Universal machine likely to mirror viral uncanny stunts and short-cut promos that mixes devotion and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the first trailer. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s work are sold as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a next wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween runway lets the studio to saturate 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has demonstrated that a tactile, makeup-driven style can feel cinematic on a mid-range budget. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio sets two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is presenting as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around world-building, and creature design, elements that can increase premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of my company period horror defined by careful craft and period language, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate shift to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a stair-step that optimizes both first-week urgency and trial spikes in the tail. Prime Video pairs library titles with cross-border buys and brief theater runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library pulls, using featured rows, horror hubs, and editorial rows to keep attention on overall cume. Netflix keeps optionality about original films and festival deals, finalizing horror entries closer to launch and making event-like debuts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a paired of focused cinema runs and speedy platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly activity when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 pipeline 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 clear: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, recalibrated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a standard theatrical run for the title, an promising marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the year-end corridor to scale. That positioning has delivered for craft-driven horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception supports. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using select theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their user base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By count, 2026 favors the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on legacy awareness. The potential drawback, as ever, is audience fatigue. The operating solution is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is bringing forward character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French sensibility from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the packaging is known enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not block a hybrid test from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they rotate perspective 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to connect the chapters through character and theme and to leave creative active without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued turn toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that highlights texture and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in deep-dive features and department features before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature design and production design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that center pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in premium houses.

From winter to holidays

January is heavy. 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 moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Q1 into Q2 load in summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a mystery-first teaser plan and limited plot reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s founding notes. 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 devastated man’s algorithmic partner mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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 be swallowed by a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 severe boss claw to survive on a cut-off island as the power dynamic flips and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that toys with the panic of a child’s wobbly interpretations. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: major-studio and A-list fronted eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A comic send-up that targets contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 breaks out, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a different family tethered to past horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core 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: forthcoming. Logline: closely held. Rating: undetermined. Production: continuing. 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 era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: TBA. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or migrated in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will compete across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 surprise over-performer 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, 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 warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with 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 win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, soundcraft, and camera work 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 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.