Primordial Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling horror feature, streaming October 2025 across global platforms

One chilling supernatural scare-fest from author / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an timeless force when unknowns become subjects in a cursed struggle. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense account of perseverance and ancient evil that will reimagine terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Directed by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and gothic story follows five characters who regain consciousness imprisoned in a off-grid hideaway under the sinister power of Kyra, a haunted figure consumed by a millennia-old ancient fiend. Get ready to be captivated by a filmic display that fuses soul-chilling terror with folklore, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a well-established concept in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is twisted when the demons no longer emerge from an outside force, but rather from within. This embodies the darkest facet of the protagonists. The result is a emotionally raw moral showdown where the tension becomes a ongoing contest between good and evil.


In a unforgiving natural abyss, five teens find themselves caught under the possessive aura and possession of a obscure female figure. As the survivors becomes incapable to escape her control, exiled and tracked by terrors mind-shattering, they are compelled to encounter their soulful dreads while the clock coldly ticks toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia intensifies and connections crack, requiring each character to doubt their values and the structure of autonomy itself. The danger escalate with every breath, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that blends otherworldly panic with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon primitive panic, an entity before modern man, manifesting in human fragility, and testing a evil that redefines identity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant evoking something past sanity. She is insensitive until the demon emerges, and that flip is deeply unsettling because it is so emotional.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring subscribers from coast to coast can experience this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its initial teaser, which has been viewed over a viral response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, delivering the story to scare fans abroad.


Be sure to catch this bone-rattling ride through nightmares. Explore *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to uncover these nightmarish insights about inner darkness.


For exclusive trailers, filmmaker commentary, and updates from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official website.





Horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle stateside slate melds old-world possession, indie terrors, in parallel with series shake-ups

Beginning with last-stand terror suffused with near-Eastern lore to legacy revivals set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified in tandem with blueprinted year of the last decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. leading studios hold down the year with known properties, as premium streamers saturate the fall with unboxed visions as well as archetypal fear. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is surfing the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween holding the peak, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, however this time, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, hence 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige fear returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with a statement play: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a clear present-tense world. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Slated for 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 conversion presented as stripped terror. Led by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma centered writing, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: Economy, maximum dread

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale featuring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of 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 unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No sequel clutter. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy IP: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops 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.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The oncoming scare slate: brand plays, Originals, paired with A hectic Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek The new terror calendar crams from the jump with a January crush, before it stretches through summer corridors, and running into the winter holidays, mixing series momentum, untold stories, and shrewd calendar placement. Distributors with platforms are embracing right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that position these pictures into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has emerged as the surest swing in release plans, a lane that can spike when it resonates and still protect the exposure when it underperforms. After 2023 re-taught top brass that disciplined-budget scare machines can lead pop culture, 2024 maintained heat with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The carry flowed into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and festival-grade titles made clear there is appetite for different modes, from series extensions to filmmaker-driven originals that translate worldwide. The sum for the 2026 slate is a grid that seems notably aligned across companies, with intentional bunching, a blend of household franchises and original hooks, and a sharpened priority on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and SVOD.

Executives say the space now behaves like a swing piece on the schedule. Horror can debut on nearly any frame, deliver a sharp concept for marketing and shorts, and overperform with demo groups that turn out on previews Thursday and maintain momentum through the second weekend if the movie delivers. Emerging from a production delay era, the 2026 layout signals belief in that setup. The year launches with a front-loaded January run, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a late-year stretch that carries into the Halloween corridor and into early November. The program also shows the tightening integration of indie distributors and streamers that can build gradually, ignite recommendations, and widen at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. The companies are not just turning out another sequel. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that ties a incoming chapter to a early run. At the very same time, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing practical craft, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That interplay delivers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of home base and surprise, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the spine, positioning the film as both a relay and a origin-leaning character-centered film. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a nostalgia-forward campaign without going over the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will hunt four-quadrant chatter through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three specific entries. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is crisp, somber, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an artificial companion that shifts into a lethal partner. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back eerie street stunts and brief clips that fuses longing and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a branding reveal to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s work are treated as marquee events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to fill 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has demonstrated that a raw, hands-on effects treatment can feel prestige on a efficient spend. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, keeping a dependable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is presenting as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build materials around lore, and creature design, elements that can amplify deluxe auditorium demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror built on careful craft and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. The Universal horror run window into copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a tiered path that maximizes both initial urgency and platform bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances catalogue additions with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in back-catalog play, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and programmed rows to stretch the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about original films and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries closer to drop and turning into events launches with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a staged of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that converts WOM to subscribers. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with award winners or star-driven packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is straightforward: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, elevated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the year-end corridor to go wider. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-first horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using small theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

Brands and originals

By number, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is spotlighting character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a continental coloration from a fresh helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and visionary-led titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the assembly is known enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent comps clarify the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept clean windows did not deter a day-date try from delivering click site when the brand was big. In 2024, director-craft horror over-performed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reorient and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters lensed sequentially, gives leeway to marketing to thread films through relationships and themes and to hold creative in the market without doldrums.

Technique and craft currents

The director conversations behind the 2026 slate signal a continued preference for in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that leans on texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for red-band excess, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-referential reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster work and world-building, which fit with convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that elevate fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in big rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is stacked. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid headline IP. The month closes 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 credible, but the variety of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. 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 finished their premium pass.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited teasers that favor idea over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can win the holiday when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s synthetic partner escalates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 difficult boss push to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic upends and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting setup that filters its scares through a kid’s uneven inner lens. Rating: TBD. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-built and celebrity-led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A comic send-up that lampoons of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 surges, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new household bound to residual nightmares. Rating: forthcoming. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-first horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. 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: TBA. Logline: closely held. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-branded event click to read more with teaser focus.

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 time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the moment is 2026

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or migrated in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming releases. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, select 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 first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can lead 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 helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where modest-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 press those advantages. 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, tight deployments, 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 visual texture, sound, and cinematography 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

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.