Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across major platforms

A chilling ghostly scare-fest from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an archaic fear when guests become instruments in a supernatural ordeal. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish depiction of staying alive and age-old darkness that will reconstruct scare flicks this scare season. Visualized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and cinematic film follows five lost souls who arise sealed in a hidden cottage under the dark dominion of Kyra, a young woman dominated by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Be prepared to be captivated by a screen-based display that harmonizes soul-chilling terror with ancient myths, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a historical theme in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is twisted when the monsters no longer emerge from elsewhere, but rather inside their minds. This portrays the malevolent side of every character. The result is a harrowing mind game where the story becomes a unforgiving push-pull between good and evil.


In a bleak landscape, five friends find themselves cornered under the ghastly force and haunting of a uncanny figure. As the characters becomes unresisting to reject her rule, left alone and followed by entities mind-shattering, they are compelled to stand before their inner demons while the timeline harrowingly winds toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread mounts and relationships erode, coercing each member to examine their values and the idea of personal agency itself. The danger accelerate with every beat, delivering a terror ride that harmonizes paranormal dread with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to explore primitive panic, an threat from ancient eras, emerging via soul-level flaws, and challenging a force that threatens selfhood when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra needed manifesting something more primal than sorrow. She is innocent until the haunting manifests, and that conversion is haunting because it is so visceral.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that horror lovers everywhere can survive this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original promo, which has seen over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, taking the terror to international horror buffs.


Join this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to survive these terrifying truths about the psyche.


For previews, extra content, and insider scoops from those who lived it, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your socials and visit the film’s website.





Current horror’s watershed moment: 2025 for genre fans U.S. calendar integrates myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, stacked beside brand-name tremors

Across survivor-centric dread saturated with mythic scripture and extending to IP renewals and cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 stands to become the genre’s most multifaceted plus intentionally scheduled year in recent memory.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio majors plant stakes across the year by way of signature titles, at the same time streamers flood the fall with fresh voices in concert with legend-coded dread. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is drafting behind the uplift of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, notably this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are surgical, and 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium dread reemerges

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp kicks off the frame with a bold swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in an immediate now. Under director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. landing in 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 adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by 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.

Toward summer’s end, the WB camp sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and the memorable motifs return: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, pinning the winter close.

SVOD Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also notable is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

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.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. 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. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming fear year to come: brand plays, original films, alongside A stacked Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The emerging terror year crowds right away with a January pile-up, subsequently stretches through the warm months, and deep into the winter holidays, fusing IP strength, new voices, and shrewd counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are embracing responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that pivot these offerings into culture-wide discussion.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has shown itself to be the predictable release in studio lineups, a pillar that can expand when it clicks and still mitigate the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured executives that cost-conscious genre plays can shape pop culture, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and unexpected risers. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is capacity for several lanes, from legacy continuations to fresh IP that translate worldwide. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across studios, with mapped-out bands, a balance of brand names and novel angles, and a refocused priority on theater exclusivity that increase tail monetization on premium home window and subscription services.

Buyers contend the space now behaves like a flex slot on the calendar. The genre can launch on open real estate, furnish a simple premise for ad units and reels, and lead with patrons that show up on opening previews and keep coming through the follow-up frame if the feature connects. Post a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm shows belief in that engine. The calendar gets underway with a heavy January corridor, then taps spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a September to October window that flows toward Halloween and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the continuing integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is brand management across shared universes and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just mounting another entry. They are seeking to position lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a fresh attitude or a casting choice that binds a next entry to a foundational era. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the headline-grabbing originals are returning to practical craft, on-set effects and grounded locations. That pairing delivers 2026 a healthy mix of familiarity and freshness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two marquee releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character study. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a roots-evoking approach without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Plan for a rollout built on franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will spotlight. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever leads horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, melancholic, and commercial: a grieving man onboards an synthetic partner that evolves into a harmful mate. The date slots it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s team likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and micro spots that interweaves devotion and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title drop to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele titles are framed as signature events, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The prime October weekend gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, practical-first mix can feel prestige on a tight budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror surge that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is selling as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around canon, and monster design, elements that can lift premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places 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 built on meticulous craft and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that amplifies both initial urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with global pickups and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival snaps, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and framing as events debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of precision releases and accelerated platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to secure select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, reimagined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then working the holiday dates to scale. That positioning has served the company well for director-led genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness marquee value. The question, as ever, is brand erosion. The pragmatic answer is to present each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-accented approach from a new voice. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the assembly is grounded enough to generate pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent-year comps frame the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that maintained windows did not block a dual release from thriving when the brand was compelling. In 2024, director-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reframe POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, enables marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror indicate a continued shift toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates texture and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster work and world-building, which match well with expo activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that underscore razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month closes 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 formidable, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s AI companion unfolds into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: aura-driven 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 abrasive boss fight to survive on a cut-off island as the pecking order turns and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to terror, based on Cronin’s hands-on craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 domestic haunting narrative that refracts terror through a youngster’s uncertain point of view. Rating: pending. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that pokes at of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime manias. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a another family anchored to ancient dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on classic survival-horror tone over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. 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: forthcoming. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by Young & Cursed PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming drops. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on clippable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, freeing space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 low-to-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 shock 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces 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 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 Thursday preview surges, 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 visual texture, sound field, and visual design 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 Looks Exciting

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is franchise muscle where it helps, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.