Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming Oct 2025 across leading streamers

One bone-chilling otherworldly scare-fest from narrative craftsman / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an forgotten horror when guests become subjects in a cursed experiment. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful story of perseverance and old world terror that will reimagine genre cinema this fall. Realized by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and shadowy feature follows five figures who come to ensnared in a wooded shelter under the malevolent command of Kyra, a central character possessed by a two-thousand-year-old biblical demon. Get ready to be seized by a theatrical ride that weaves together intense horror with mythic lore, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a iconic concept in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is inverted when the malevolences no longer originate outside their bodies, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the most terrifying part of the protagonists. The result is a psychologically brutal emotional conflict where the narrative becomes a unyielding fight between divinity and wickedness.


In a haunting wild, five individuals find themselves stuck under the ghastly grip and overtake of a shadowy entity. As the survivors becomes incapable to escape her curse, marooned and tracked by forces unimaginable, they are cornered to acknowledge their core terrors while the countdown harrowingly ticks onward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear rises and bonds crack, demanding each soul to question their self and the idea of self-determination itself. The hazard intensify with every minute, delivering a fear-soaked story that blends spiritual fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to evoke core terror, an curse before modern man, feeding on fragile psyche, and questioning a darkness that threatens selfhood when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant evoking something past sanity. She is insensitive until the control shifts, and that conversion is soul-crushing because it is so internal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering streamers globally can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first trailer, which has received over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, bringing the film to a worldwide audience.


Mark your calendar for this life-altering trip into the unknown. Join *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to survive these nightmarish insights about our species.


For director insights, production insights, and insider scoops from those who lived it, follow @YACFilm across platforms and visit our spooky domain.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: 2025 U.S. Slate Mixes myth-forward possession, independent shockers, set against returning-series thunder

Spanning survival horror drawn from mythic scripture and onward to canon extensions and acutely observed indies, 2025 is coalescing into the genre’s most multifaceted together with tactically planned year of the last decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Major studios stabilize the year using marquee IP, even as platform operators front-load the fall with debut heat plus old-world menace. On the festival side, the independent cohort is surfing the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate starts the year with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer eases, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 follows. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: old school creep, trauma as theme, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The follow up digs further into canon, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

Digital Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in 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. It is a clever angle. No heavy handed lore. No brand fatigue. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. 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.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

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

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Brands: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

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. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. 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, led by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror retakes ground
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new fright calendar year ahead: follow-ups, Originals, as well as A Crowded Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The current genre season builds in short order with a January traffic jam, from there runs through the summer months, and carrying into the late-year period, combining marquee clout, original angles, and savvy calendar placement. Studios with streamers are betting on smart costs, box-office-first windows, and buzz-forward plans that position these releases into cross-demo moments.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror has proven to be the sturdy option in release plans, a category that can break out when it lands and still limit the drag when it falls short. After 2023 signaled to top brass that responsibly budgeted shockers can galvanize the zeitgeist, 2024 continued the surge with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum pushed into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and awards-minded projects made clear there is room for several lanes, from sequel tracks to original features that perform internationally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a grid that reads highly synchronized across companies, with strategic blocks, a blend of legacy names and novel angles, and a refocused focus on cinema windows that feed downstream value on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Schedulers say the genre now performs as a flex slot on the schedule. Horror can open on most weekends, deliver a easy sell for teasers and shorts, and punch above weight with moviegoers that respond on previews Thursday and sustain through the second frame if the entry lands. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping exhibits confidence in that logic. The year launches with a heavy January window, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while making space for a fall cadence that connects to late October and past the holiday. The arrangement also features the stronger partnership of specialty arms and home platforms that can platform a title, generate chatter, and grow at the optimal moment.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across connected story worlds and established properties. The players are not just mounting another continuation. They are shaping as brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that connects a new installment to a classic era. At the concurrently, the creative teams behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into real-world builds, physical gags and specific settings. That alloy hands the 2026 slate a solid mix of trust and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount opens strong with two prominent 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 heart, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative posture indicates a classic-referencing bent without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by signature symbols, character-first teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reawakens 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 partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will seek mainstream recognition through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is straightforward, soulful, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s team likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts news and bite-size content that hybridizes love and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places 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 listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title reveal to become an fan moment closer to the initial promo. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are sold as signature events, with a minimalist tease and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date offers Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, makeup-driven treatment can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that embraces global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio lines up two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is presenting as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and fresh viewers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around lore, and creature design, elements that can increase premium format interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is supportive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on established tracks. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that elevates both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the back half. Prime Video combines licensed titles with worldwide buys and small theatrical windows when the data backs it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using timely promos, October hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about first-party entries and festival wins, timing horror entries closer to drop and eventizing launches with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a discrete basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 sequence with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, refined for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the back half.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to scale. That positioning has worked well for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception justifies. Plan on 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 as a pair, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is centering character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-flavored turn from a new voice. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night turnout.

Recent comps contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that honored streaming windows did not obstruct a hybrid test from hitting when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they pivot perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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 filmed consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to hold creative in the market without pause points.

Behind-the-camera trends

The director conversations behind this slate hint at a continued bias toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers texture and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which match well with fan-con activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that elevate surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is heavy. Universal’s 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 brooding contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month concludes 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 thick, but the mix of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth persists.

February through May prepare summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops 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 PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a minimalist tease strategy and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s AI companion unfolds into something lethally affectionate. 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 hard-edged boss scramble to survive on a rugged island as the control balance upends and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fear, shaped by Cronin’s on-set craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting narrative that twists the dread of a child’s inconsistent senses. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that pokes at hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a different family tethered to returning horrors. Rating: TBD. 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: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBA. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 language and elemental fear. Rating: not yet rated. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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

Why the moment is 2026

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-slotted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work bite-size scare clips from test screenings, curated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will coexist across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, 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 efficient band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient screen counts, 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 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is IP strength where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, craft precise trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.