Age-old Evil Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding horror thriller, bowing October 2025 across major streaming services

A blood-curdling unearthly fright fest from storyteller / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient force when guests become tokens in a cursed contest. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking tale of struggle and ancient evil that will alter fear-driven cinema this season. Directed by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and emotionally thick story follows five lost souls who are stirred trapped in a off-grid cottage under the aggressive manipulation of Kyra, a cursed figure controlled by a two-thousand-year-old scriptural evil. Get ready to be captivated by a theatrical presentation that weaves together intense horror with arcane tradition, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a enduring element in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is turned on its head when the dark entities no longer appear from external sources, but rather inside their minds. This marks the grimmest aspect of every character. The result is a riveting spiritual tug-of-war where the events becomes a unyielding battle between divinity and wickedness.


In a isolated terrain, five individuals find themselves isolated under the ghastly force and overtake of a obscure apparition. As the cast becomes submissive to combat her grasp, marooned and followed by creatures impossible to understand, they are confronted to reckon with their worst nightmares while the seconds unforgivingly winds toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia amplifies and teams splinter, pushing each member to question their true nature and the nature of self-determination itself. The cost rise with every short lapse, delivering a cinematic nightmare that marries mystical fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to explore instinctual horror, an evil older than civilization itself, emerging via emotional fractures, and examining a force that redefines identity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra was about accessing something more primal than sorrow. She is unaware until the control shifts, and that evolution is deeply unsettling because it is so raw.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for streaming beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure audiences globally can enjoy this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first preview, which has seen over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, exporting the fear to a global viewership.


Experience this life-altering path of possession. Face *Young & Cursed* this launch day to survive these evil-rooted truths about the human condition.


For previews, set experiences, and promotions via the production team, follow @YACFilm across fan hubs and visit the movie portal.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 domestic schedule blends legend-infused possession, underground frights, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Spanning endurance-driven terror infused with mythic scripture and stretching into franchise returns alongside acutely observed indies, 2025 is emerging as the most complex along with blueprinted year of the last decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Top studios lay down anchors through proven series, in tandem streaming platforms crowd the fall with unboxed visions in concert with scriptural shivers. In parallel, the art-house flank is surfing the echoes of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, notably this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige terror resurfaces

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a big gambit: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer winds down, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. Here the stakes rise, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, speaking to teens and older millennials. It drops in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Firsts: Slim budgets, major punch

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a two hander body horror spiral with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Scripted and led 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 nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a smart play. No overweight mythology. No continuity burden. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

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. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror resurges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new fright season: entries, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A stacked Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The incoming horror slate crowds in short order with a January logjam, from there stretches through the warm months, and continuing into the winter holidays, weaving brand equity, new voices, and strategic counterprogramming. Studios and platforms are relying on cost discipline, theatrical-first rollouts, and short-form initiatives that turn genre releases into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror has solidified as the predictable swing in annual schedules, a vertical that can surge when it catches and still cushion the liability when it underperforms. After the 2023 year reassured decision-makers that disciplined-budget chillers can command the national conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The head of steam flowed into the 2025 frame, where returns and prestige plays signaled there is capacity for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a slate that presents tight coordination across the field, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of recognizable IP and fresh ideas, and a refocused eye on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital and streaming.

Executives say the space now functions as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. Horror can kick off on almost any weekend, yield a quick sell for trailers and TikTok spots, and outstrip with patrons that arrive on Thursday previews and maintain momentum through the next pass if the picture works. Exiting a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 cadence reflects belief in that playbook. The calendar commences with a loaded January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while carving room for a fall run that runs into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The gridline also includes the deeper integration of arthouse labels and SVOD players that can launch in limited release, create conversation, and broaden at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is legacy care across ongoing universes and long-running brands. Studio teams are not just pushing another sequel. They are moving to present connection with a occasion, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a tonal shift or a casting move that threads a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing physical effects work, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That combination delivers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of comfort and novelty, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount marks the early tempo with two centerpiece entries that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the core, angling it as both a handoff and a DNA-forward character piece. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a fan-service aware strategy without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Plan for a rollout built on classic imagery, character previews, and a promo sequence targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a summer counter-slot, this one will seek wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is crisp, sorrow-tinged, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that escalates into a killer companion. The date sets it at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit strange in-person beats and short reels that melds companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s pictures are sold as creative events, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a blood-soaked, practical-effects forward aesthetic can feel deluxe on a lean spend. Look for a hard-R summer horror blast that maximizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is billing as a clean-slate approach 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 devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around setting detail, and practical creature work, elements that can increase premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

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 sustains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by meticulous craft and dialect, this time exploring werewolf lore. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is warm.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform tactics for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that amplifies both premiere heat and sign-up momentum in the tail. Prime Video will mix licensed titles with global pickups and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using curated hubs, spooky hubs, and programmed rows to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival buys, locking in horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops go-lives with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of targeted cinema placements and quick platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to board select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 sequence with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, modernized for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the December frame to broaden. That positioning has been successful for arthouse horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using mini theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The risk, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is bringing forward character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-accented approach from a emerging director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the deal build is familiar enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set help explain the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that observed windows did not block a day-date try from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized 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 double feature plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to cross-link entries through personae and themes and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that spotlights aura and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which lend themselves to convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that center precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

January is packed. 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 quiet contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tonal variety affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated Get More Info campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back 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: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 severe boss struggle to survive on a lonely island as the hierarchy inverts and suspicion grows. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 home-set haunting story that filters its scares through a young child’s shifting point of view. Rating: pending. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that lampoons modern genre fads and true crime preoccupations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 erupts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new household lashed to older hauntings. Rating: undetermined. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: to be announced. 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: awaiting classification. Production: underway. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 period-specific language and primordial menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three workable forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, managed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 stealth overachiever 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 pattern and spread. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, and visuals 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the chills sell the seats.