Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

A eerie ghostly thriller from storyteller / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an ancient terror when unfamiliar people become puppets in a cursed maze. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing story of continuance and timeless dread that will remodel scare flicks this scare season. Directed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and immersive fearfest follows five individuals who arise caught in a far-off house under the hostile rule of Kyra, a young woman occupied by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Get ready to be enthralled by a motion picture experience that weaves together instinctive fear with ancient myths, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a historical theme in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is inverted when the beings no longer descend from beyond, but rather deep within. This portrays the darkest corner of these individuals. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the emotions becomes a constant face-off between moral forces.


In a wilderness-stricken woodland, five teens find themselves imprisoned under the unholy presence and grasp of a secretive being. As the survivors becomes submissive to break her manipulation, marooned and tormented by powers unimaginable, they are pushed to face their inner demons while the deathwatch coldly edges forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion escalates and partnerships collapse, demanding each participant to scrutinize their character and the idea of autonomy itself. The cost magnify with every second, delivering a paranormal ride that merges ghostly evil with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to evoke primitive panic, an curse older than civilization itself, working through inner turmoil, and wrestling with a force that strips down our being when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra needed manifesting something more primal than sorrow. She is blind until the haunting manifests, and that transition is terrifying because it is so intimate.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for digital release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing users anywhere can face this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its intro video, which has gathered over strong viewer count.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, spreading the horror to international horror buffs.


Avoid skipping this heart-stopping fall into madness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these terrifying truths about the psyche.


For previews, set experiences, and social posts directly from production, follow @YACMovie across media channels and visit our horror hub.





Horror’s tipping point: the year 2025 American release plan braids together myth-forward possession, art-house nightmares, plus franchise surges

Running from life-or-death fear drawn from legendary theology and including series comebacks paired with incisive indie visions, 2025 looks like the most stratified together with carefully orchestrated year in the past ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. leading studios set cornerstones with established lines, concurrently subscription platforms load up the fall with new voices paired with legend-coded dread. Meanwhile, independent banners is drafting behind the backdraft from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the other windows are mapped with care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are precise, thus 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium dread reemerges

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal starts the year with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

By late summer, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retrograde shiver, trauma foregrounded, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time the stakes climb, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Playing chamber scale is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

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

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, led by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror reemerges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

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 like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming fright release year: continuations, new stories, paired with A hectic Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek The upcoming scare year builds from the jump with a January cluster, following that rolls through summer, and running into the year-end corridor, combining name recognition, creative pitches, and savvy counterweight. Studios and platforms are relying on cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that position these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has grown into the bankable option in annual schedules, a space that can accelerate when it lands and still hedge the downside when it stumbles. After the 2023 year demonstrated to decision-makers that low-to-mid budget scare machines can steer audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films highlighted there is appetite for varied styles, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that perform internationally. The end result for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across distributors, with intentional bunching, a spread of familiar brands and novel angles, and a re-energized strategy on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and home platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now acts as a plug-and-play option on the slate. Horror can debut on virtually any date, offer a clean hook for trailers and vertical videos, and lead with fans that come out on early shows and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the offering hits. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern signals confidence in that logic. The calendar starts with a loaded January lineup, then targets spring into early summer for off-slot scheduling, while holding room for a fall cadence that connects to Halloween and into the next week. The map also illustrates the tightening integration of indie arms and OTT outlets that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and expand at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across shared universes and veteran brands. Big banners are not just producing another sequel. They are shaping as brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that announces a tonal shift or a lead change that links a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing physical effects work, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That fusion provides the 2026 slate a smart balance of familiarity and discovery, which is how the films export.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a lineage transfer and a DNA-forward character-first story. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a fan-service aware treatment without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout built on iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also dusts off 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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick shifts to whatever tops the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three defined projects. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is crisp, heartbroken, and high-concept: a grieving man brings home an machine companion that becomes a perilous partner. The date puts it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s marketing likely to replay creepy live activations and snackable content that interlaces romance and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves movies space for a name unveil to become an headline beat closer to the first trailer. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. The filmmaker’s films are branded as creative events, with a opaque teaser and a follow-up trailer set that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date lets the studio to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy method can feel top-tier on a lean spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror charge that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, preserving a proven supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has adjusted timing 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 re-enters in what Sony is calling a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 focus to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can accelerate premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and dialect, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that elevates both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with international acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using prominent placements, horror hubs, and featured rows to sustain interest on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps options open about original films and festival acquisitions, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a laddered of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to buy select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for retention when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is direct: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, reimagined for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the fall weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through select festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday corridor to broaden. That positioning has proved effective for director-led genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception supports. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By tilt, 2026 bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate marquee value. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The pragmatic answer is to present each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is emphasizing character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the bundle is recognizable enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years clarify the approach. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not stop a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was powerful. In 2024, auteur craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reframe POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate forecast a continued preference for tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-craft useful reference ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which lend themselves to expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is full. 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 somber counterpoint amid bigger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a early fall window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited disclosures that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card spend.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s synthetic partner becomes something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss scramble to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power shifts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production 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 intimate haunting chiller that leverages the fear of a child’s fragile POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: completed. Positioning: major-studio and marquee-led spirit-world 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 parody return that skewers contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 breaks out, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

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

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three practical forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming drops. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, precision scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will line up across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient placements, 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 texture, sound, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.