Mythic Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, arriving Oct 2025 across major platforms

One chilling mystic fear-driven tale from storyteller / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an primeval malevolence when unrelated individuals become puppets in a devilish trial. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a intense journey of resilience and forgotten curse that will revolutionize horror this fall. Brought to life by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and tone-heavy suspense flick follows five individuals who snap to sealed in a remote shelter under the oppressive manipulation of Kyra, a tormented girl dominated by a timeless holy text monster. Brace yourself to be ensnared by a visual venture that intertwines instinctive fear with arcane tradition, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a long-standing element in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is turned on its head when the dark entities no longer arise outside their bodies, but rather from their core. This depicts the most terrifying part of the group. The result is a bone-chilling psychological battle where the suspense becomes a ongoing face-off between right and wrong.


In a wilderness-stricken natural abyss, five youths find themselves trapped under the ominous presence and spiritual invasion of a unknown being. As the characters becomes unable to resist her dominion, severed and targeted by beings ungraspable, they are cornered to encounter their soulful dreads while the doomsday meter without pause winds toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia deepens and teams implode, pushing each participant to challenge their being and the foundation of freedom of choice itself. The threat magnify with every instant, delivering a horror experience that integrates demonic fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dive into core terror, an evil rooted in antiquity, manipulating psychological breaks, and examining a power that redefines identity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra called for internalizing something more primal than sorrow. She is blind until the possession kicks in, and that evolution is bone-chilling because it is so close.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving households across the world can be part of this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original clip, which has earned over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, extending the thrill to scare fans abroad.


Do not miss this bone-rattling path of possession. Watch *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to witness these fearful discoveries about human nature.


For featurettes, production news, and news from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across platforms and visit the film’s website.





Horror’s watershed moment: 2025 stateside slate Mixes biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, plus returning-series thunder

Across endurance-driven terror grounded in scriptural legend and onward to franchise returns set beside focused festival visions, 2025 is tracking to be the richest combined with calculated campaign year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors stabilize the year through proven series, as subscription platforms load up the fall with unboxed visions as well as scriptural shivers. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is carried on the uplift of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp opens the year with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a sharp contemporary setting. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Led by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. delivers the closing chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: vintage toned fear, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It bows in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Then there is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written 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. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

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

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The upcoming genre slate: brand plays, filmmaker-first projects, as well as A loaded Calendar designed for shocks

Dek: The emerging genre year stacks in short order with a January cluster, then runs through June and July, and continuing into the holiday frame, combining legacy muscle, new voices, and shrewd counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are doubling down on responsible budgets, theatrical leads, and buzz-forward plans that position the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has emerged as the dependable tool in distribution calendars, a lane that can accelerate when it connects and still protect the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that lean-budget chillers can galvanize mainstream conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The head of steam pushed into 2025, where re-entries and prestige plays underscored there is a market for several lanes, from sequel tracks to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The net effect for 2026 is a lineup that presents tight coordination across studios, with purposeful groupings, a combination of household franchises and new pitches, and a renewed focus on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Schedulers say the horror lane now functions as a utility player on the distribution slate. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, yield a sharp concept for creative and social clips, and over-index with fans that line up on preview nights and stay strong through the next weekend if the movie hits. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 plan shows faith in that setup. The year commences with a loaded January block, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while holding room for a fall cadence that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The layout also shows the deeper integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and widen at the right moment.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across connected story worlds and heritage properties. Studios are not just releasing another next film. They are looking to package story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a fresh attitude or a casting move that threads a next film to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the directors behind the marquee originals are prioritizing on-set craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a strong blend of home base and invention, which is the formula for international play.

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

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the spine, setting it up as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a throwback-friendly bent without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that unfolds into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the Universal machine likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that blurs intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an attention spike closer to the teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are branded as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, hands-on effects execution can feel big on a controlled budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror blast that maximizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is describing as a fresh restart 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 directive to serve both fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and creature work, elements that can lift premium booking interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that fortifies both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends licensed films with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and handpicked rows to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival pickups, dating horror entries closer to drop and framing as events premieres with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and rapid platforming that translates talk to trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with established auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation builds.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 track with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to scale. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse 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 usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using mini theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is bringing forward core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. 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, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the assembly is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps make sense of the model. In 2023, a theater-first model that maintained windows did not obstruct a parallel release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft coverage before rolling out a tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta reframe that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel must-have. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the menu of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that put concept Source first.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s machine mate unfolds into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: aura-driven 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 abrasive boss battle to survive on a desolate island as the power balance of power swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fear, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that channels the fear through a preteen’s unsteady personal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satirical comeback that needles current genre trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. 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 detonates, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new household snared by residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: pending. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over action fireworks. Rating: not yet rated. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBD. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and bone-deep menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces inform this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate meme-ready beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, creating valuable space for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will share space across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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 deep PLF penetration without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely have a peek at this web-site 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 disciplined-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 sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium click to read more formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound, and image-making 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is franchise muscle where it helps, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.