Age-old Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding shocker, streaming October 2025 across premium platforms

This terrifying ghostly scare-fest from dramatist / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an forgotten horror when guests become tools in a supernatural contest. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching account of staying alive and forgotten curse that will revolutionize scare flicks this Halloween season. Guided by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and cinematic fearfest follows five young adults who suddenly rise sealed in a unreachable hideaway under the aggressive command of Kyra, a central character inhabited by a biblical-era holy text monster. Get ready to be shaken by a immersive event that blends intense horror with arcane tradition, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a time-honored tradition in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is redefined when the forces no longer descend outside their bodies, but rather deep within. This symbolizes the haunting version of the cast. The result is a emotionally raw identity crisis where the suspense becomes a constant face-off between light and darkness.


In a abandoned natural abyss, five campers find themselves isolated under the fiendish presence and haunting of a enigmatic female figure. As the companions becomes incapacitated to evade her command, isolated and followed by presences inconceivable, they are cornered to stand before their core terrors while the clock unforgivingly moves toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear swells and connections implode, pushing each participant to question their being and the foundation of free will itself. The tension mount with every second, delivering a paranormal ride that marries supernatural terror with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dive into deep fear, an malevolence older than civilization itself, channeling itself through human fragility, and navigating a presence that dismantles free will when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra was about accessing something beyond human emotion. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that flip is gut-wrenching because it is so private.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing audiences no matter where they are can survive this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has racked up over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, exporting the fear to a global viewership.


Don’t miss this unforgettable journey into fear. Confront *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to experience these haunting secrets about our species.


For exclusive trailers, set experiences, and promotions directly from production, follow @YACFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s inflection point: the year 2025 U.S. Slate integrates myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, set against franchise surges

Kicking off with fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with legendary theology to canon extensions and keen independent perspectives, 2025 stands to become horror’s most layered combined with strategic year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Major studios lay down anchors with known properties, in parallel premium streamers flood the fall with fresh voices paired with scriptural shivers. In parallel, the artisan tier is catching the kinetic energy from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Since Halloween is the prized date, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, though in this cycle, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

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

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. landing in mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time, the stakes are raised, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a room scale body horror descent including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Then there is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative starring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and helmed 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. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. 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 swollen lore. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Heritage Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror retakes ground
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Badges become bargaining chips
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

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 must fight for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The approaching Horror lineup: returning titles, original films, alongside A busy Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The new scare year builds at the outset with a January cluster, then runs through midyear, and carrying into the winter holidays, blending legacy muscle, new concepts, and well-timed alternatives. Studios with streamers are committing to mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that frame horror entries into national conversation.

How the genre looks for 2026

This category has proven to be the predictable lever in distribution calendars, a space that can lift when it performs and still limit the drawdown when it does not. After the 2023 year reassured buyers that disciplined-budget scare machines can dominate cultural conversation, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and unexpected risers. The energy moved into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and critical darlings demonstrated there is room for a spectrum, from continued chapters to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The end result for 2026 is a run that seems notably aligned across companies, with intentional bunching, a balance of recognizable IP and fresh ideas, and a revived attention on exhibition windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and digital services.

Planners observe the space now slots in as a utility player on the schedule. The genre can open on many corridors, deliver a clear pitch for promo reels and reels, and punch above weight with crowds that show up on preview nights and hold through the second weekend if the film pays off. Following a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern reflects certainty in that engine. The slate kicks off with a thick January schedule, then taps spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a fall cadence that carries into the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The program also shows the expanded integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can launch in limited release, create conversation, and grow at the optimal moment.

An added macro current is IP cultivation across shared universes and storied titles. The studios are not just making another sequel. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that indicates a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that ties a incoming chapter to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the most watched originals are celebrating real-world builds, on-set effects and place-driven backdrops. That combination affords 2026 a vital pairing of assurance and invention, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, presenting it as both a succession moment and a back-to-basics character-first story. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture announces a nostalgia-forward strategy without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave anchored in legacy iconography, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a summer contrast play, this one will build wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever owns the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three distinct pushes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, somber, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an machine companion that grows into a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s campaign likely to mirror viral uncanny stunts and short-cut promos that blurs romance and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a public title to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing hands 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 reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. The filmmaker’s films are presented as director events, with a teaser that reveals little and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has established that a flesh-and-blood, on-set effects led mix can feel cinematic on a mid-range budget. Look for a splatter summer horror charge that leans into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio deploys two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a bankable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil click site restarts in what the studio is describing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both loyalists and newcomers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build assets around narrative world, and monster design, elements that can fuel PLF interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books 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 centered on rigorous craft and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is strong.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a sequence that elevates both first-week urgency and subscriber lifts in the after-window. Prime Video stitches together library titles with worldwide buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in archive usage, using prominent placements, October hubs, and featured rows to extend momentum on overall cume. Netflix keeps options open about in-house releases and festival grabs, securing horror entries closer to drop and positioning as event drops drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 slate with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is uncomplicated: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, updated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then using the holiday corridor to widen. That positioning has paid off for auteur horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By skew, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to package each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is bringing forward character click site and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-flavored turn from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf check over here anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the packaging is steady enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent-year comps contextualize the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not deter a day-date try from winning when the brand was trusted. In 2024, precision craft horror surged in premium formats. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reorient and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot consecutively, enables marketing to link the films through character and theme and to leave creative active without hiatuses.

Technique and craft currents

The director conversations behind 2026 horror forecast a continued tilt toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that centers aura and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft features before rolling out a tone piece that keeps plot minimal, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and earns shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta pivot that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature design and production design, which align with fan-con activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that elevate razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar cadence

January is stacked. 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 bigger brand plays. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the menu of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

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

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a slow-reveal plan and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card spend.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s artificial companion shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

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 collide with a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss push to survive on a isolated island as the control dynamic tilts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting scenario that mediates the fear via a youngster’s unreliable subjective view. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-grade and star-fronted spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons current genre trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 flares, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new household anchored to older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for classic survival-horror tone over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing. 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 period-specific language and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or rearranged in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and leaner 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 placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack 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 exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, 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 visual texture, soundcraft, 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.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.