Primordial Horror Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across global platforms

A blood-curdling otherworldly fright fest from creator / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an archaic horror when drifters become tools in a demonic maze. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking narrative of overcoming and prehistoric entity that will remodel the horror genre this Halloween season. Produced by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and tone-heavy thriller follows five people who wake up imprisoned in a wooded cottage under the oppressive command of Kyra, a possessed female controlled by a time-worn sacrosanct terror. Arm yourself to be immersed by a immersive venture that integrates intense horror with biblical origins, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a long-standing foundation in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is challenged when the demons no longer come externally, but rather inside them. This illustrates the most hidden element of the cast. The result is a riveting moral showdown where the emotions becomes a perpetual fight between virtue and vice.


In a forsaken terrain, five campers find themselves contained under the evil rule and possession of a enigmatic entity. As the companions becomes paralyzed to deny her curse, detached and followed by entities impossible to understand, they are required to acknowledge their core terrors while the time without pause strikes toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread grows and bonds crack, forcing each cast member to rethink their existence and the integrity of freedom of choice itself. The intensity climb with every heartbeat, delivering a frightening tale that combines demonic fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to uncover basic terror, an spirit beyond time, manipulating our weaknesses, and challenging a curse that peels away humanity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra called for internalizing something unfamiliar to reason. She is innocent until the haunting manifests, and that conversion is emotionally raw because it is so intimate.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring users globally can watch this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its initial teaser, which has pulled in over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, extending the thrill to international horror buffs.


Mark your calendar for this soul-jarring journey into fear. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these ghostly lessons about our species.


For featurettes, extra content, and news from the creators, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit the film’s website.





Modern horror’s decisive shift: the year 2025 stateside slate Mixes myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, paired with legacy-brand quakes

Moving from last-stand terror drawn from near-Eastern lore and onward to legacy revivals as well as sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted plus tactically planned year for the modern era.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. top-tier distributors plant stakes across the year using marquee IP, while subscription platforms front-load the fall with new voices in concert with ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, the art-house flank is fueled by the uplift of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are precise, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal lights the fuse with a big gambit: a reimagined Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. targeting mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Under Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

By late summer, the WB camp bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. While the template is known, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: period tinged dread, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It books December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are more runway than museum.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Heritage Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trend Lines

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror retakes ground
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

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

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

What’s Next: Fall saturation and a winter joker

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. 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 assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 fright calendar year ahead: entries, original films, alongside A busy Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek: The new scare year stacks from day one with a January wave, before it extends through peak season, and running into the holiday stretch, fusing name recognition, untold stories, and savvy offsets. Studios and streamers are committing to smart costs, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that transform horror entries into all-audience topics.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has turned into the predictable counterweight in studio slates, a segment that can spike when it connects and still insulate the risk when it fails to connect. After 2023 demonstrated to strategy teams that lean-budget scare machines can dominate mainstream conversation, the following year extended the rally with visionary-driven titles and stealth successes. The run flowed into 2025, where legacy revivals and arthouse crossovers showed there is demand for multiple flavors, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that travel well. The result for 2026 is a programming that is strikingly coherent across studios, with strategic blocks, a balance of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a sharpened attention on exhibition windows that power the aftermarket on premium rental and home streaming.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now slots in as a wildcard on the rollout map. Horror can arrive on nearly any frame, deliver a simple premise for ad units and short-form placements, and over-index with viewers that show up on first-look nights and hold through the subsequent weekend if the picture pays off. Following a production delay era, the 2026 setup reflects comfort in that playbook. The calendar starts with a stacked January band, then uses spring and early summer for contrast, while keeping space for a fall corridor that extends to the fright window and into November. The calendar also reflects the deeper integration of indie arms and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

Another broad trend is brand curation across shared IP webs and veteran brands. Big banners are not just producing another chapter. They are working to present continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that reconnects a new installment to a classic era. At the alongside this, the directors behind the marquee originals are prioritizing on-set craft, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That blend delivers 2026 a confident blend of comfort and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, presenting it as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a nostalgia-forward framework without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected stacked with franchise iconography, early character teases, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects 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 as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will generate wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, somber, and commercial: a grieving man activates an AI companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a busy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to reprise strange in-person beats and short reels that threads longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s pictures are marketed as creative events, with a mystery-first teaser and a follow-up trailer set that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The prime October weekend lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, practical-first mix can feel high-value on a tight budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror hit that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, extending a bankable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is marketing as a new foundation 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 charge to serve both loyalists and novices. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign pieces around canon, and creature work, elements that can increase format premiums and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror driven by meticulous craft and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate feed copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that enhances both launch urgency and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video balances licensed content with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and collection rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival deals, securing horror entries closer to launch and eventizing arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday slot to go wider. That positioning has proved effective for director-led genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using boutique theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate favors the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The trade-off, as ever, is fatigue. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is leading Source with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a emerging director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. 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 island-set survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the deal build is known enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Recent-year comps illuminate the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not stop a same-day experiment from delivering when the brand was compelling. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to leave creative active without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued emphasis on material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for textured sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and department features before rolling out a tone piece that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which play well in convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel key. Look for trailers that underscore pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. 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 foggy reset amid heavier IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now Source can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s AI companion becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: mood-led 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 unyielding boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the chain of command upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-front survival film 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 contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to dread, based on Cronin’s in-camera craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 closed-door haunting premise that explores the fright of a child’s tricky POV. Rating: pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-built and marquee-led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A comic send-up that pokes at today’s horror trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: to be announced. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, my review here 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 historical diction and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 lands now

Three workable forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or rearranged in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 dark-horse hunt 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first quiet 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. Expect a healthy 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, aural design, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, creative ambition where it counts, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the frights sell the seats.