Mythic Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

This blood-curdling otherworldly horror tale from creator / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primeval nightmare when unknowns become instruments in a satanic trial. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful tale of struggle and forgotten curse that will remodel the fear genre this scare season. Guided by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and immersive cinema piece follows five teens who are stirred sealed in a secluded lodge under the aggressive sway of Kyra, a central character overtaken by a antiquated sacred-era entity. Get ready to be hooked by a immersive experience that fuses visceral dread with legendary tales, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a iconic theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is reversed when the malevolences no longer form outside the characters, but rather from deep inside. This mirrors the grimmest side of the group. The result is a edge-of-seat identity crisis where the conflict becomes a perpetual battle between right and wrong.


In a remote backcountry, five young people find themselves sealed under the sinister aura and infestation of a mysterious apparition. As the characters becomes incapable to withstand her curse, marooned and stalked by entities inconceivable, they are forced to acknowledge their raw vulnerabilities while the clock coldly ticks onward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion mounts and partnerships splinter, requiring each person to reflect on their being and the idea of self-determination itself. The stakes climb with every heartbeat, delivering a scare-fueled ride that merges spiritual fright with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to explore deep fear, an darkness before modern man, emerging via fragile psyche, and examining a evil that erodes the self when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra involved tapping into something past sanity. She is oblivious until the demon emerges, and that change is shocking because it is so private.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for on-demand beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing fans everywhere can enjoy this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original promo, which has garnered over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, presenting the nightmare to global fright lovers.


Don’t miss this gripping voyage through terror. Join *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to witness these haunting secrets about inner darkness.


For exclusive trailers, behind-the-scenes content, and alerts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit our spooky domain.





Horror’s sea change: 2025 U.S. Slate braids together old-world possession, Indie Shockers, alongside returning-series thunder

Spanning fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from legendary theology through to IP renewals and acutely observed indies, 2025 is emerging as the most textured as well as tactically planned year for the modern era.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. the big studios hold down the year with known properties, simultaneously subscription platforms load up the fall with new voices alongside archetypal fear. In the indie lane, the art-house flank is buoyed by the kinetic energy from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are disciplined, and 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with a big gambit: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. arriving mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Directed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the memorable motifs return: throwback unease, trauma as narrative engine, along with eerie supernatural rules. This run ups the stakes, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The continuation widens the legend, builds out the animatronic fear crew, courting teens and the thirty something base. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While the big screen favors titles you know, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror chamber piece anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, 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 poised for a fall platform bow.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

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

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. 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. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The upcoming genre year to come: returning titles, fresh concepts, in tandem with A stacked Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek: The incoming terror year builds up front with a January bottleneck, then extends through the warm months, and carrying into the holiday frame, balancing legacy muscle, creative pitches, and calculated counterprogramming. Studios and platforms are embracing smart costs, theatrical leads, and influencer-ready assets that frame genre titles into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

The genre has grown into the bankable play in studio calendars, a segment that can grow when it catches and still cushion the liability when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for executives that disciplined-budget fright engines can own mainstream conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and word-of-mouth wins. The energy rolled into 2025, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects confirmed there is a market for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to one-and-done originals that scale internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a lineup that presents tight coordination across the market, with defined corridors, a balance of familiar brands and original hooks, and a recommitted attention on box-office windows that feed downstream value on premium digital and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now operates like a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can open on a wide range of weekends, supply a simple premise for ad units and shorts, and outperform with fans that turn out on first-look nights and sustain through the sophomore frame if the title fires. Exiting a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration shows faith in that equation. The slate begins with a weighty January run, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a September to October window that pushes into the fright window and into November. The calendar also shows the ongoing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can platform and widen, stoke social talk, and move wide at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is IP stewardship across shared universes and veteran brands. The players are not just turning out another continuation. They are moving to present lineage with a specialness, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a tonal shift or a star attachment that ties a next entry to a classic era. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the top original plays are returning to practical craft, on-set effects and concrete locations. That blend yields 2026 a lively combination of home base and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount marks the early tempo with two spotlight moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a lineage transfer and a DNA-forward character-forward chapter. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a classic-referencing angle without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. Anticipate a campaign stacked with iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan hitting 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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will generate wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever drives the conversation that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is elegant, loss-driven, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an AI companion that mutates into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that hybridizes devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are sold as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to fill 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a gritty, practical-effects forward strategy can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is describing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both diehards and novices. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around lore, and creature work, elements that can lift large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is warm.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform windowing in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that expands both launch urgency and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with cross-border buys and small theatrical windows when the data points to it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be click site meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Plan on 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 jointly, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By share, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is comforting enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set announce the method. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not stop a simultaneous release test from thriving when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reorient and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through relationships and themes and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that leans on unease and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature execution and sets, which work nicely for convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

January is jammed. 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 brooding contrast amid heavier IP. The month finishes 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 legit, but the tonal variety ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a peekaboo tease plan and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

One-sentence dossiers

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 re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s virtual companion mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: this content 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 encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 difficult boss claw to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance of power inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, founded on Cronin’s physical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 family-home haunting narrative that teases the fear of a child’s shaky POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed and name-above-title haunting 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 riffs on current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 detonates, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family entangled with long-buried horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 antique diction and elemental dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026, why now

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter schedules. 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, fresh vision where it counts, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.