Ancient Evil rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling horror thriller, launching Oct 2025 across leading streamers

A spine-tingling mystic fear-driven tale from dramatist / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an mythic horror when foreigners become conduits in a cursed contest. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing depiction of staying alive and age-old darkness that will reimagine horror this autumn. Directed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and moody film follows five lost souls who suddenly rise ensnared in a isolated cabin under the aggressive power of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a timeless ancient fiend. Prepare to be captivated by a narrative spectacle that blends intense horror with mythic lore, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a long-standing narrative in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is inverted when the forces no longer appear from external sources, but rather deep within. This represents the deepest dimension of the cast. The result is a gripping mind game where the plotline becomes a constant struggle between right and wrong.


In a remote wilderness, five friends find themselves marooned under the malicious aura and control of a unknown spirit. As the protagonists becomes powerless to break her influence, cut off and targeted by beings unnamable, they are obligated to encounter their darkest emotions while the deathwatch coldly runs out toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension deepens and connections crack, demanding each individual to challenge their core and the structure of independent thought itself. The tension rise with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that harmonizes occult fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dig into pure dread, an curse older than civilization itself, manifesting in our weaknesses, and questioning a will that dismantles free will when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra needed manifesting something more primal than sorrow. She is uninformed until the possession kicks in, and that turn is harrowing because it is so intimate.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing watchers no matter where they are can engage with this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its intro video, which has racked up over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, bringing the film to global fright lovers.


Don’t miss this heart-stopping path of possession. Explore *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to uncover these ghostly lessons about the human condition.


For bonus footage, director cuts, and reveals directly from production, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season domestic schedule fuses old-world possession, signature indie scares, set against Franchise Rumbles

Running from survival horror inspired by old testament echoes and stretching into canon extensions alongside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as the most variegated along with tactically planned year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. top-tier distributors stabilize the year with franchise anchors, as premium streamers flood the fall with discovery plays paired with ancestral chills. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the kinetic energy of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween holding the peak, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The fall stretch is the proving field, however this time, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal kicks off the frame with a risk-forward move: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Under Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, the WB camp bows the concluding entry from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: vintage toned fear, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The follow up digs further into canon, thickens the animatronic pantheon, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the quieter side is Together, a two hander body horror spiral pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also notable is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It looks like sharp programming. No overweight mythology. No franchise baggage. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, under Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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 Worth Watching

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

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 next fright year to come: brand plays, fresh concepts, paired with A hectic Calendar optimized for screams

Dek: The incoming terror slate loads up front with a January pile-up, then carries through midyear, and continuing into the holiday stretch, blending IP strength, novel approaches, and calculated calendar placement. Major distributors and platforms are committing to lean spends, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that pivot the slate’s entries into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror filmmaking has solidified as the steady counterweight in studio calendars, a category that can surge when it breaks through and still limit the floor when it stumbles. After 2023 re-taught executives that efficiently budgeted genre plays can steer the discourse, 2024 extended the rally with high-profile filmmaker pieces and unexpected risers. The run moved into 2025, where revived properties and elevated films confirmed there is an opening for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The result for 2026 is a slate that appears tightly organized across players, with intentional bunching, a combination of recognizable IP and new packages, and a sharpened commitment on box-office windows that increase tail monetization on premium rental and home platforms.

Insiders argue the category now acts as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. Horror can roll out on many corridors, offer a quick sell for creative and short-form placements, and outpace with audiences that line up on Thursday nights and continue through the second weekend if the picture pays off. Coming out of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup reflects trust in that setup. The slate opens with a stacked January schedule, then turns to spring and early summer for balance, while keeping space for a fall run that runs into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The program also spotlights the increasing integration of indie distributors and subscription services that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A further high-level trend is IP stewardship across shared universes and storied titles. The companies are not just releasing another chapter. They are working to present lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a brandmark that suggests a new vibe or a casting choice that anchors a latest entry to a original cycle. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the top original plays are championing tactile craft, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That blend provides the 2026 slate a confident blend of trust and surprise, which is the formula for international play.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance telegraphs a nostalgia-forward campaign without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by franchise iconography, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will stress. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will generate broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format supporting quick turns to whatever leads horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tight, sorrow-tinged, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that turns into a lethal partner. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with Universal’s promo team likely to iterate on creepy live activations and short-cut promos that threads romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a official title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele projects are branded as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a follow-up trailer set that define feel without revealing the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a raw, practical-first strategy can feel big on a efficient spend. Position this as a viscera-heavy 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 name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, keeping a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is billing as a new take 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 diehards and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around setting detail, and creature effects, elements that can lift PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and dialect, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s releases move to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that optimizes both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together acquired titles with international acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in deep cuts, using featured rows, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to lengthen the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival pickups, timing horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and fast windowing that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to buy select projects with award winners or star packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 runway with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is simple: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, upgraded for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late-season weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festival season if the cut is ready, then pressing the year-end corridor to broaden. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-driven genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception allows. Do not be surprised by 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 partners, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, 2026 tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on household recognition. The concern, as ever, is fatigue. The preferred tactic is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is foregrounding core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is floating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a fresh helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the package is grounded enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the template. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not block a day-and-date experiment from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, precision craft horror outperformed in premium large format. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently 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 shot consecutively, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through relationships and themes and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued bias toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that highlights tone and tension rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a initial teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature design and production design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel necessary. Look for trailers that highlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is stacked. 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 heftier brand moves. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring stage summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps Source into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a opaque tease strategy and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s AI companion shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 tough boss try to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting premise that plays with the dread of a child’s shaky senses. Rating: forthcoming. Production: post-ready. Positioning: major-studio and toplined eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that lampoons contemporary horror memes and true crime fixations. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new household tethered to long-buried horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survivalist horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: to be announced. Production: underway. 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 antique diction and ancient menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three pragmatic forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 landings. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will share space 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 leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where lean-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound field, and camera work 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is franchise muscle where it helps, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shudders sell the seats.