Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This haunting spectral fright fest from storyteller / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an primordial horror when passersby become victims in a satanic struggle. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping chronicle of struggle and age-old darkness that will redefine the fear genre this autumn. Brought to life by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and gothic suspense flick follows five individuals who arise ensnared in a off-grid dwelling under the hostile command of Kyra, a female lead controlled by a ancient Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be drawn in by a big screen spectacle that harmonizes gut-punch terror with legendary tales, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a enduring trope in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is reimagined when the dark entities no longer come outside their bodies, but rather through their own souls. This represents the most primal element of all involved. The result is a riveting cognitive warzone where the emotions becomes a soul-crushing conflict between heaven and hell.


In a remote terrain, five individuals find themselves cornered under the sinister dominion and haunting of a obscure character. As the youths becomes vulnerable to evade her influence, left alone and targeted by creatures unfathomable, they are cornered to deal with their raw vulnerabilities while the timeline relentlessly ticks toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust grows and teams break, compelling each cast member to contemplate their existence and the concept of autonomy itself. The threat rise with every minute, delivering a paranormal ride that intertwines otherworldly panic with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dig into primal fear, an spirit beyond time, embedding itself in our fears, and questioning a spirit that erodes the self when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant channeling something outside normal anguish. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that transformation is terrifying because it is so raw.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing audiences across the world can dive into this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original promo, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, delivering the story to a global viewership.


Mark your calendar for this cinematic path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these spiritual awakenings about the psyche.


For cast commentary, special features, and social posts from the creators, follow @YACMovie across media channels and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s sea change: 2025 in focus American release plan melds ancient-possession motifs, independent shockers, plus franchise surges

Running from endurance-driven terror saturated with scriptural legend and including returning series together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered together with deliberate year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors are anchoring the year using marquee IP, in parallel subscription platforms stack the fall with discovery plays together with old-world menace. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is drafting behind the echoes of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Since Halloween is the prized date, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, distinctly in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, hence 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Guided by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite 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.

At summer’s close, Warner’s slate releases the last chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, bridging teens and legacy players. It posts in December, cornering year end horror.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

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

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Long Running Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

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

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

What’s Next: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming chiller cycle: installments, filmmaker-first projects, And A brimming Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek: The fresh genre calendar packs immediately with a January bottleneck, before it stretches through the warm months, and continuing into the year-end corridor, weaving brand equity, untold stories, and shrewd release strategy. The major players are focusing on tight budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and short-form initiatives that shape horror entries into water-cooler talk.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the dependable option in studio lineups, a lane that can lift when it breaks through and still cushion the floor when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for top brass that mid-range shockers can shape pop culture, the following year extended the rally with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The momentum extended into the 2025 frame, where returns and prestige plays underscored there is an opening for different modes, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that travel well. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across the market, with defined corridors, a pairing of household franchises and novel angles, and a recommitted strategy on cinema windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and subscription services.

Distribution heads claim the space now behaves like a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can debut on most weekends, supply a clear pitch for previews and short-form placements, and lead with patrons that arrive on Thursday previews and return through the second weekend if the release fires. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence demonstrates conviction in that approach. The calendar opens with a stacked January band, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a fall cadence that runs into the Halloween frame and past Halloween. The layout also features the continuing integration of specialized imprints and digital platforms that can grow from platform, spark evangelism, and scale up at the precise moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and storied titles. The players are not just turning out another next film. They are moving to present ongoing narrative with a headline quality, whether that is a title treatment that announces a fresh attitude or a cast configuration that anchors a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the very same time, the directors behind the marquee originals are championing practical craft, practical gags and concrete locations. That convergence offers the 2026 slate a lively combination of known notes and invention, which is what works overseas.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount establishes early momentum with two front-of-slate projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin see here Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a fan-service aware bent without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will drive large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that evolves into a killer companion. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to recreate uncanny live moments and short-form creative that interlaces affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions 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 official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His projects are positioned as director events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to fill 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has proven that a in-your-face, hands-on effects style can feel premium on a lean spend. Position this as a hard-R summer horror blast that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio lines up two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is positioning as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both longtime followers and novices. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify format premiums and fandom activation.

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 continues Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and historical speech, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ladder that boosts both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video balances acquired titles with global acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival grabs, slotting horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 pipeline with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is simple: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, updated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a big-screen first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to open out. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception merits. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The risk, as ever, is overexposure. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-inflected take from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is anchored enough to spark pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent comps outline the strategy. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not preclude a day-date try from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, precision craft horror exceeded expectations in premium formats. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, gives leeway to marketing to cross-link entries through character and theme and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The production chatter behind this year’s genre point to a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that underscores grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which favor convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

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 somber counterpoint amid headline IP. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil arrives 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 backed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited pre-release reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: gothic-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 difficult boss fight to survive on a remote island as the control balance swivels and suspicion grows. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting tale that frames the panic through a young child’s volatile internal vantage. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-supported and name-above-title supernatural mood piece.

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 satirical comeback that riffs on contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 detonates, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a different family anchored to long-buried horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on classic survival-horror tone over action-forward bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: continuing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 debuts. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, managed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 sleeper chase 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 banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundscape, and imagery 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 Shapes Up Strong

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.