Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

An blood-curdling spiritual suspense film from cinematographer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an timeless evil when foreigners become instruments in a fiendish ordeal. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a intense tale of struggle and age-old darkness that will revolutionize horror this ghoul season. Created by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and tone-heavy motion picture follows five lost souls who emerge stuck in a far-off shack under the malignant power of Kyra, a cursed figure consumed by a 2,000-year-old biblical force. Anticipate to be gripped by a audio-visual adventure that harmonizes soul-chilling terror with folklore, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a long-standing fixture in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is challenged when the monsters no longer develop beyond the self, but rather deep within. This symbolizes the most hidden element of the players. The result is a relentless inner struggle where the suspense becomes a intense struggle between divinity and wickedness.


In a forsaken forest, five friends find themselves cornered under the sinister sway and infestation of a elusive spirit. As the youths becomes paralyzed to oppose her will, exiled and tormented by entities beyond comprehension, they are confronted to battle their worst nightmares while the clock unforgivingly winds toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and friendships dissolve, requiring each character to scrutinize their existence and the concept of self-determination itself. The risk grow with every beat, delivering a paranormal ride that marries paranormal dread with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to channel pure dread, an malevolence older than civilization itself, influencing psychological breaks, and questioning a power that strips down our being when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra required summoning something rooted in terror. She is oblivious until the takeover begins, and that metamorphosis is emotionally raw because it is so internal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering subscribers worldwide can experience this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first preview, which has been viewed over 100,000 views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, giving access to the movie to global fright lovers.


Avoid skipping this bone-rattling fall into madness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to confront these chilling revelations about existence.


For cast commentary, production insights, and social posts from those who lived it, follow @YACFilm across platforms and visit our film’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 for genre fans U.S. calendar interlaces ancient-possession motifs, indie terrors, and brand-name tremors

Beginning with endurance-driven terror steeped in biblical myth through to brand-name continuations paired with acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the genre’s most multifaceted as well as strategic year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors stabilize the year with established lines, concurrently streamers saturate the fall with unboxed visions set against archetypal fear. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is carried on the momentum from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, however this time, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are precise, thus 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a big gambit: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. While the template is known, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It bows in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is canny scheduling. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite 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. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

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. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive 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 play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next genre season: installments, fresh concepts, in tandem with A jammed Calendar Built For chills

Dek The new genre season builds right away with a January glut, and then carries through the mid-year, and well into the winter holidays, weaving series momentum, new concepts, and shrewd counterplay. Studios and streamers are doubling down on lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and influencer-ready assets that pivot these offerings into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has emerged as the bankable tool in release plans, a genre that can grow when it performs and still safeguard the floor when it falls short. After the 2023 year demonstrated to strategy teams that efficiently budgeted chillers can command the discourse, the following year maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where revivals and critical darlings proved there is space for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to director-led originals that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a lineup that presents tight coordination across the industry, with intentional bunching, a mix of known properties and untested plays, and a tightened focus on exclusive windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital and streaming.

Executives say the space now slots in as a fill-in ace on the rollout map. The genre can debut on most weekends, deliver a simple premise for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and outstrip with fans that turn out on preview nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the release delivers. Post a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout underscores faith in that playbook. The calendar opens with a weighty January run, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a fall run that extends to the fright window and afterwards. The map also underscores the ongoing integration of arthouse labels and home platforms that can platform a title, grow buzz, and broaden at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is brand strategy across shared universes and legacy IP. The studios are not just making another continuation. They are aiming to frame continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that links a latest entry to a heyday. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the marquee originals are favoring hands-on technique, special makeup and grounded locations. That combination offers the 2026 slate a robust balance of known notes and surprise, which is how the films export.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the front, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a return-to-roots character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture indicates a classic-referencing treatment without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Count on a promo wave anchored in classic imagery, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will spotlight. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will seek large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick turns to whatever rules the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three separate projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is simple, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man activates an AI companion that grows into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to reprise viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that interlaces attachment and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele projects are sold as marquee events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to take 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a blood-soaked, practical-first aesthetic can feel big on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror surge that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is positioning as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 sharper mandate to serve both players and novices. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around canon, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror built on historical precision and linguistic texture, this time set against lycan legends. Focus has already set the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is warm.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that elevates both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the later phase. Prime Video blends acquired titles with worldwide buys and brief theater runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, using featured rows, genre hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries tight to release and making event-like releases with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with name filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clean: 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 fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the December frame to broaden. That positioning has shown results for craft-driven horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using targeted theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By skew, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit fan equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is elevating character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and director-driven titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the assembly is comforting enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Comps from the last three years help explain the template. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept clean windows did not stop a day-date try from thriving when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 shot consecutively, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind this year’s genre point to a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes grain and menace rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which are ideal for booth activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel key. Look for trailers that accent pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that benefit on big speakers.

From winter to holidays

January is loaded. 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 moody palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. 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 shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s digital partner unfolds into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

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

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 dread, based on Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting setup that explores the panic of a child’s inconsistent perspective. Rating: not yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-crafted and star-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A send-up revival that targets hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a different family linked to residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-driven horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: my review here Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

The slot calculus is real. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, optimized footprints, click to read more and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound, and visual design 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 shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is recognizable IP where it plays, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.