Antediluvian Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 across top digital platforms

An blood-curdling mystic suspense film from cinematographer / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an long-buried dread when foreigners become tokens in a demonic ritual. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving portrayal of endurance and timeless dread that will revolutionize the horror genre this October. Directed by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and tone-heavy feature follows five lost souls who are stirred locked in a isolated shelter under the ominous grip of Kyra, a tormented girl haunted by a legendary biblical demon. Get ready to be captivated by a screen-based display that merges deep-seated panic with mystical narratives, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a long-standing narrative in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is redefined when the presences no longer develop from external sources, but rather deep within. This embodies the darkest facet of the protagonists. The result is a gripping cognitive warzone where the emotions becomes a unforgiving face-off between virtue and vice.


In a desolate wilderness, five teens find themselves trapped under the ghastly presence and overtake of a enigmatic female presence. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to escape her control, isolated and tracked by evils unfathomable, they are pushed to battle their greatest panics while the time without pity pushes forward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust mounts and partnerships crack, prompting each figure to rethink their being and the structure of liberty itself. The consequences mount with every minute, delivering a paranormal ride that fuses supernatural terror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to evoke primal fear, an evil from ancient eras, emerging via psychological breaks, and wrestling with a curse that threatens selfhood when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra was about accessing something deeper than fear. She is unseeing until the curse activates, and that evolution is soul-crushing because it is so internal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing streamers globally can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first trailer, which has seen over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, making the film to global fright lovers.


Mark your calendar for this visceral spiral into evil. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to acknowledge these unholy truths about the human condition.


For behind-the-scenes access, special features, and social posts from the creators, follow @YACFilm across fan hubs and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule fuses Mythic Possession, underground frights, paired with returning-series thunder

Kicking off with life-or-death fear grounded in scriptural legend and including returning series as well as cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is emerging as the most variegated along with tactically planned year for the modern era.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio majors stabilize the year by way of signature titles, even as premium streamers prime the fall with new voices together with mythic dread. On another front, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the momentum from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are methodical, thus 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Booked into mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Under Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, holding the cold season’s end.

SVOD Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a close quarters body horror study led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, 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 menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in 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. That is a savvy move. No heavy handed lore. No canon weight. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Emerging Currents

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. 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. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 Horror slate: entries, universe starters, as well as A hectic Calendar tailored for nightmares

Dek: The fresh terror season clusters at the outset with a January traffic jam, before it stretches through summer corridors, and continuing into the festive period, mixing series momentum, novel approaches, and data-minded counterweight. The major players are prioritizing lean spends, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that convert the slate’s entries into national conversation.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This space has become the surest lever in studio slates, a category that can lift when it resonates and still protect the exposure when it misses. After 2023 proved to decision-makers that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can command mainstream conversation, 2024 maintained heat with signature-voice projects and under-the-radar smashes. The upswing moved into 2025, where resurrections and awards-minded projects signaled there is an opening for different modes, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a lineup that looks unusually coordinated across studios, with mapped-out bands, a blend of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a recommitted strategy on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the category now serves as a swing piece on the slate. Horror can arrive on numerous frames, create a clear pitch for creative and TikTok spots, and overperform with crowds that come out on opening previews and maintain momentum through the second weekend if the picture fires. Emerging from a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 cadence indicates trust in that model. The year opens with a loaded January window, then primes spring and early summer for audience offsets, while carving room for a fall corridor that extends to late October and into November. The layout also illustrates the stronger partnership of boutique distributors and home platforms that can launch in limited release, build word of mouth, and scale up at the optimal moment.

An added macro current is brand strategy across unified worlds and legacy franchises. Studio teams are not just rolling another next film. They are trying to present lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a logo package that suggests a reframed mood or a star attachment that threads a next film to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into in-camera technique, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That blend delivers 2026 a confident blend of comfort and novelty, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two spotlight moves that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a baton pass and a origin-leaning character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a memory-charged approach without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run stacked with iconic art, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that turns into a perilous partner. The date places it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to echo eerie street stunts and micro spots that fuses devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed check over here 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 leaves room for a official title to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s pictures are positioned as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-October frame creates space for Universal to maximize 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, practical-effects forward style can feel elevated on a tight budget. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror hit that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio sets two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is describing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build materials around environmental design, and creature design, elements that can fuel premium format interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror centered on minute detail and period speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus’s team has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s releases flow to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that amplifies both first-week urgency and sub growth in the later window. Prime Video blends third-party pickups with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using timely promos, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix originals and festival snaps, slotting horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops launches with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a laddered of precision releases and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a discrete basis. The platform has signaled readiness to purchase select projects with acclaimed directors or star-driven packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 arc with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is clean: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, reimagined for modern audio and picture. 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 positioned a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the December frame to broaden. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-first horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception supports. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using small theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their membership.

Brands and originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage fan equity. The concern, as ever, is brand erosion. The near-term solution is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is leading with character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a European tilt from a buzzed-about director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is anchored enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps illuminate the model. In 2023, a theater-first model that observed windows did not stop a parallel release from winning when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror outperformed in premium screens. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reframe POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, enables marketing to bridge entries through protagonists and motifs and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind this slate suggest a continued emphasis on tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The have a peek here Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that leans on mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and spurs shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-referential reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature execution and sets, which play well in fan-con activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is loaded. 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 big-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring build the summer base. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited information drops that put concept first.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. 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 turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s artificial companion evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 demanding boss claw to survive on a rugged island as the pecking order swivels and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to nightmare, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting narrative that threads the dread through a minor’s uncertain personal vantage. Rating: TBD. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satire sequel that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: production booked 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 bursts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new household bound to lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward classic survival-horror tone over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 historical diction and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will trade weekends across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 surprise-hit pursuit 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sound, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, creative ambition where it counts, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.