Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts ancient terror, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms




One spine-tingling metaphysical horror tale from author / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient force when guests become proxies in a hellish game. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching saga of living through and primordial malevolence that will remodel genre cinema this season. Brought to life by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and shadowy story follows five figures who suddenly rise confined in a secluded wooden structure under the dark command of Kyra, a tormented girl occupied by a time-worn religious nightmare. Anticipate to be enthralled by a theatrical presentation that blends gut-punch terror with ancient myths, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a enduring theme in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is radically shifted when the spirits no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather from their core. This echoes the deepest version of each of them. The result is a enthralling cognitive warzone where the drama becomes a constant contest between divinity and wickedness.


In a forsaken outland, five campers find themselves confined under the evil grip and infestation of a mysterious apparition. As the cast becomes vulnerable to fight her command, severed and attacked by forces indescribable, they are driven to stand before their soulful dreads while the doomsday meter relentlessly edges forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion mounts and connections crack, forcing each character to examine their existence and the foundation of freedom of choice itself. The hazard intensify with every breath, delivering a scare-fueled ride that marries ghostly evil with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to channel core terror, an entity from ancient eras, emerging via emotional fractures, and challenging a curse that threatens selfhood when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra called for internalizing something unfamiliar to reason. She is uninformed until the takeover begins, and that evolution is shocking because it is so deep.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring households no matter where they are can witness this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has racked up over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, making the film to lovers of terror across nations.


Witness this gripping spiral into evil. Join *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to acknowledge these evil-rooted truths about the soul.


For teasers, making-of footage, and updates straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACMovie across online outlets and visit our film’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season domestic schedule braids together myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, paired with tentpole growls

From pressure-cooker survival tales grounded in legendary theology to series comebacks in concert with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 appears poised to be the most complex and deliberate year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. leading studios bookend the months with familiar IP, in parallel premium streamers crowd the fall with discovery plays paired with primordial unease. On another front, the independent cohort is surfing the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are targeted, thus 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium genre swings back

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal banner opens the year with a marquee bet: a contemporary Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving 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. Led by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

By late summer, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The ante is higher this round, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The new chapter enriches the lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a tight space body horror vignette pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in 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. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this film taps 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.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No bloated mythology. No legacy baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Key Trends

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror returns
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

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

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming chiller release year: Sequels, fresh concepts, together with A busy Calendar geared toward screams

Dek The current terror calendar clusters from day one with a January bottleneck, subsequently carries through the warm months, and continuing into the holiday frame, mixing brand equity, fresh ideas, and strategic counter-scheduling. Studios and platforms are betting on efficient budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that convert these releases into four-quadrant talking points.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror sector has become the consistent release in distribution calendars, a lane that can lift when it catches and still hedge the risk when it under-delivers. After 2023 reminded leaders that mid-range horror vehicles can steer mainstream conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The energy carried into the 2025 frame, where returns and prestige plays made clear there is room for different modes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that carry overseas. The end result for 2026 is a lineup that appears tightly organized across companies, with obvious clusters, a equilibrium of brand names and original hooks, and a re-energized focus on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and platforms.

Schedulers say the genre now serves as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can open on almost any weekend, yield a sharp concept for teasers and short-form placements, and outpace with viewers that arrive on first-look nights and maintain momentum through the next pass if the movie connects. After a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping exhibits conviction in that approach. The calendar rolls out with a front-loaded January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a October build that flows toward the Halloween frame and into the next week. The map also spotlights the deeper integration of specialty distributors and home platforms that can platform and widen, fuel WOM, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across shared IP webs and established properties. The studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are aiming to frame threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title presentation that suggests a new vibe or a ensemble decision that reconnects a next film to a heyday. At the same time, the creative teams behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing real-world builds, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That fusion affords the 2026 slate a vital pairing of brand comfort and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two high-profile titles 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 spine, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach announces a legacy-leaning campaign without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push rooted in classic imagery, intro reveals, and a tease cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will hunt mass reach through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an virtual partner that escalates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo strange in-person beats and short reels that melds companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are set up as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, in-camera leaning approach can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror rush that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around lore, and creature work, elements that can lift large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by obsessive craft and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal titles window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that maximizes both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video pairs licensed content with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in deep cuts, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and featured rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival deals, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and framing as events arrivals with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a two-step of precision releases and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 sequence with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a big-screen first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to move out. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using small theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, 2026 tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a fresh helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the packaging is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps contextualize the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a dual release from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they rotate perspective and elevate scope. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this year’s genre point to a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on tone and tension rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a first look that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster work and world-building, which align with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that elevate disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

January is loaded. 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 atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tonal variety lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Q1 into Q2 prepare summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. 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 bereaved man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss try to survive on a remote island as the hierarchy turns and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fear, built on Cronin’s hands-on craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting chiller that leverages the panic of a child’s fragile perspective. Rating: TBD. Production: completed. Positioning: major-studio and celebrity-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A parody return that lampoons today’s horror trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: pending. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. 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: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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-accurate language and bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces shape this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more measured 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 placements. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The search for sleepers 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 capitalize on those pockets. 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, 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 flow and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and have a peek at these guys September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, acoustics, and image-making 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

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.



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