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

A terrifying spectral suspense film from cinematographer / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an archaic force when foreigners become tokens in a cursed ceremony. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing depiction of overcoming and forgotten curse that will transform the fear genre this autumn. Guided by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and gothic screenplay follows five young adults who suddenly rise caught in a far-off house under the menacing command of Kyra, a central character controlled by a biblical-era sacred-era entity. Anticipate to be absorbed by a motion picture journey that integrates bodily fright with timeless legends, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a enduring fixture in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is reimagined when the entities no longer appear outside the characters, but rather internally. This portrays the deepest corner of the group. The result is a enthralling cognitive warzone where the emotions becomes a soul-crushing contest between good and evil.


In a abandoned no-man's-land, five adults find themselves confined under the possessive effect and overtake of a unidentified being. As the youths becomes powerless to fight her control, left alone and tormented by powers unnamable, they are forced to face their raw vulnerabilities while the doomsday meter coldly ticks toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust rises and links disintegrate, coercing each character to challenge their core and the nature of autonomy itself. The risk grow with every fleeting time, delivering a cinematic nightmare that blends mystical fear with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to channel raw dread, an darkness that predates humanity, embedding itself in our fears, and dealing with a evil that challenges autonomy when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra called for internalizing something beneath mortal despair. She is ignorant until the spirit seizes her, and that flip is bone-chilling because it is so close.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be released for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering subscribers everywhere can get immersed in this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has earned over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, offering the tale to fans of fear everywhere.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling voyage through terror. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to experience these nightmarish insights about human nature.


For exclusive trailers, director cuts, and insider scoops from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit the official movie site.





Horror’s sea change: 2025 U.S. calendar braids together legend-infused possession, microbudget gut-punches, set against brand-name tremors

Moving from grit-forward survival fare steeped in mythic scripture and including installment follow-ups paired with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the genre’s most multifaceted together with precision-timed year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. major banners plant stakes across the year through proven series, even as subscription platforms pack the fall with emerging auteurs in concert with archetypal fear. On another front, indie storytellers is drafting behind the kinetic energy from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Elevated fear reclaims ground

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with a big gambit: a contemporary Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror chamber piece led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a calculated bet. 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 Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

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 premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by 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.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Key Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

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 next Horror cycle: installments, filmmaker-first projects, plus A Crowded Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The arriving genre calendar lines up from day one with a January glut, subsequently runs through the warm months, and running into the festive period, combining name recognition, untold stories, and savvy counterprogramming. The major players are doubling down on smart costs, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that turn these pictures into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has proven to be the steady tool in programming grids, a lane that can expand when it connects and still limit the drag when it fails to connect. After 2023 signaled to buyers that disciplined-budget chillers can command social chatter, 2024 continued the surge with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The upswing carried into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and awards-minded projects showed there is capacity for many shades, from brand follow-ups to original features that travel well. The end result for the 2026 slate is a roster that is strikingly coherent across the market, with planned clusters, a equilibrium of established brands and novel angles, and a reinvigorated eye on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and home platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now acts as a fill-in ace on the calendar. The genre can premiere on a wide range of weekends, deliver a quick sell for marketing and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with audiences that respond on previews Thursday and continue through the next weekend if the movie delivers. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 rhythm signals faith in that setup. The year commences with a loaded January schedule, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a September to October window that pushes into the Halloween frame and into the next week. The program also shows the deeper integration of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can grow from platform, stoke social talk, and widen at the precise moment.

A notable top-line trend is IP stewardship across ongoing universes and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just pushing another chapter. They are working to present lore continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that signals a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that binds a next film to a initial period. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to tactile craft, practical gags and specific settings. That combination delivers 2026 a strong blend of brand comfort and novelty, which is how the films export.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount establishes early momentum with two centerpiece entries that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a succession moment and a return-to-roots character-focused installment. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach signals a legacy-leaning mode without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. Expect a marketing push fueled by heritage visuals, character previews, and a staggered trailer plan hitting 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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate wide More about the author appeal through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal has three defined plays. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is clean, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that shifts into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s team likely to reprise uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that interlaces attachment and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an event moment closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-October frame creates space for Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has demonstrated that a raw, prosthetic-heavy execution can feel deluxe on a efficient spend. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is marketing as 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 charge to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build materials around narrative world, and monster design, elements that can fuel premium screens and fan-culture participation.

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 follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on rigorous craft and dialect, this time orbiting lycan myth. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is robust.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform windowing in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles window into copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that enhances both premiere heat and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines catalogue additions with worldwide buys and brief theater runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in deep cuts, using prominent placements, October hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival deals, confirming horror entries near their drops and elevating as drops debuts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical rollout for the title, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception merits. Do not be surprised by 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 as partners, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By number, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is centering character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-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, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the assembly is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps clarify the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not foreclose a day-date try from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, enables marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate signal a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that underscores creep and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead features and guild coverage before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gristle and gore, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which play well in booth activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar cadence

January is busy. 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 quiet contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month finishes 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 formidable, but the tone spread lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now enables 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a bridge slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits 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 heartbroken man’s synthetic partner unfolds into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: gothic-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 tough boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the power balance tilts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to terror, grounded in Cronin’s tactile craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting chiller that teases the unease of a child’s unreliable impressions. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-scale and toplined occult chiller.

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 satirical comeback that teases present-day genre chatter and true crime fixations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn this website (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: not yet rated. Production: currently 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 extends again, with a new household caught in old terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. 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 primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that eased or re-slotted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 landings. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is recognizable IP where it plays, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.