Antediluvian Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, rolling out October 2025 on top streamers

A eerie ghostly scare-fest from narrative craftsman / director Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an forgotten curse when passersby become puppets in a hellish struggle. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving tale of living through and archaic horror that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this October. Helmed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and claustrophobic film follows five young adults who arise isolated in a unreachable lodge under the ominous manipulation of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Steel yourself to be captivated by a motion picture adventure that intertwines deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a legendary narrative in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is turned on its head when the forces no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather from their psyche. This portrays the deepest part of each of them. The result is a harrowing mind game where the plotline becomes a intense conflict between virtue and vice.


In a wilderness-stricken natural abyss, five individuals find themselves stuck under the malevolent aura and overtake of a secretive female presence. As the companions becomes unable to break her control, disconnected and targeted by beings unfathomable, they are cornered to wrestle with their inner demons while the seconds without pause runs out toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension rises and partnerships disintegrate, pushing each individual to rethink their being and the notion of independent thought itself. The tension rise with every second, delivering a fear-soaked story that merges demonic fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to awaken primal fear, an force rooted in antiquity, working through our fears, and confronting a darkness that dismantles free will when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant channeling something past sanity. She is in denial until the demon emerges, and that evolution is haunting because it is so personal.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for audience access beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring audiences in all regions can watch this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its initial teaser, which has racked up over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to lovers of terror across nations.


Do not miss this unforgettable fall into madness. Join *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to acknowledge these dark realities about the soul.


For sneak peeks, making-of footage, and news from inside the story, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the movie portal.





Contemporary horror’s decisive shift: 2025 U.S. calendar interlaces archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, set against returning-series thunder

Beginning with grit-forward survival fare steeped in legendary theology and onward to canon extensions together with acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like the most stratified plus precision-timed year in recent memory.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios hold down the year with familiar IP, in parallel SVOD players front-load the fall with new voices paired with scriptural shivers. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is propelled by the afterglow from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween stays the prime week, the other windows are mapped with care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate begins the calendar with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer tapers, Warner’s pipeline unveils the final movement within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma as narrative engine, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, builds out the animatronic fear crew, bridging teens and legacy players. It hits in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga with Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Brands: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. Marketed correctly, it could be 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.

Trends Worth Watching

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

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



The upcoming fright year to come: brand plays, universe starters, and also A loaded Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The incoming terror year clusters in short order with a January crush, following that extends through peak season, and deep into the festive period, weaving franchise firepower, original angles, and well-timed release strategy. Major distributors and platforms are embracing smart costs, box-office-first windows, and social-fueled campaigns that turn these films into mainstream chatter.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The field has turned into the most reliable counterweight in annual schedules, a segment that can grow when it clicks and still hedge the drawdown when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year reminded strategy teams that lean-budget fright engines can lead the discourse, 2024 extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and sleeper breakouts. The run pushed into 2025, where resurrections and prestige plays signaled there is demand for a variety of tones, from franchise continuations to fresh IP that play globally. The end result for 2026 is a run that is strikingly coherent across companies, with intentional bunching, a balance of familiar brands and untested plays, and a renewed emphasis on theater exclusivity that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Insiders argue the genre now operates like a versatile piece on the programming map. Horror can roll out on virtually any date, supply a tight logline for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with fans that turn out on early shows and maintain momentum through the next pass if the picture fires. Exiting a production delay era, the 2026 pattern demonstrates certainty in that model. The calendar rolls out with a weighty January window, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while leaving room for a October build that connects to spooky season and into November. The schedule also spotlights the tightening integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and grow at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and storied titles. Big banners are not just pushing another next film. They are aiming to frame lineage with a must-see charge, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a ensemble decision that ties a latest entry to a initial period. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the marquee originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, practical effects and vivid settings. That pairing delivers 2026 a solid mix of trust and surprise, which is how the films export.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a throwback-friendly strategy without going over the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run rooted in legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also dusts off 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 as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will seek wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever leads horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific releases. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tidy, melancholic, and commercial: a grieving man adopts an virtual partner that shifts into a dangerous lover. The date puts it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s promo team likely to renew viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that melds companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a public title to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s pictures are branded as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date affords Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, makeup-driven execution can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror hit that pushes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is framing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and monster design, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

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 continues Eggers’ run of period horror driven by immersive craft and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The label has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles shift to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that optimizes both week-one demand and viewer acquisition in the tail. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data supports it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, fright rows, and handpicked rows to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix originals and festival buys, locking in horror entries on shorter runways and making event-like drops with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a staged of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a curated basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to buy select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for sustained usage when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 arc with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill movies lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is no-nonsense: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, retooled for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the year-end corridor to open out. That positioning has been successful for elevated genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception allows. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using select theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By tilt, 2026 favors the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The preferred tactic is to position each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the packaging is assuring enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set outline the plan. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not deter a same-day experiment from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in premium large format. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they change perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to keep assets alive without long breaks.

Technique and craft currents

The shop talk behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that centers atmosphere and fear rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in trade spotlights and guild coverage before rolling out a preview that elevates tone over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and drives shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta refresh that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature craft and set design, which are ideal for fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

Annual flow

January is busy. 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 quiet contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the spread of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s machine mate mutates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 push to survive on a far-flung island as the chain of command swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting chiller that channels the fear through a preteen’s shifting internal vantage. Rating: TBA. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-scale and A-list fronted 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 spoof revival that pokes at modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: pending. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a different family tethered to residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-first horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and primordial menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 lands now

Three grounded forces organize this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital 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 beaten straight-to-streaming placements. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Calendar math also matters. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 cold, 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 sequence upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, lean footprints, 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 texture, soundcraft, 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.

A Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand power where it counts, creative ambition 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.